September 18, 2023
In this comprehensive debut, Bellerby, founder of Bellerby & Co Globemakers, traces the genesis of his company and explores the nuances of constructing handmade world globes. In 2008, Bellerby decided he wanted to give his father a globe for his 80th birthday. Dissatisfied with the modern and expensive antique models he came across, he resolved to make a “foray into globemaking,” a craft that dates back to Martin Behaim’s Erdapfel (“Earth apple”) of the late 15th century. Bellerby provides an up-close picture of a painstaking art, which requires painters, woodworkers, moldmakers, and cartographers, and details some of the early challenges he faced, including getting Earth’s shape right (it’s an “oblate spheroid,” not quite a sphere). Along the way, he weaves in bits of globemaking history, hearkening back to the 18th century’s “second age of exploration,” during which globes were invaluable to merchants plotting trade routes, and the 19th century, when the development of photo engraving improved globemakers’ accuracy. While this sometimes reads as an extended advertisement for the author’s business (“We continue to strive for perfection, keep abreast of cartographical and political changes and are constantly updating our maps”), readers will be fascinated by Bellerby’s reverential and sometimes existential musings (“There’s nothing like a globe to make us really think about our place in the universe”), which are enriched by stunning photos of the globemaking process. It’s a fascinating deep dive into an arcane art.