First state of the first edition of Willem Blaeu’s globe, of which the Angelica Library possesses the only two known copies, along with the corresponding celestial spheres.

Papier-mâché sphere, internally hollow, covered with plaster, on which are applied twelve spindles and two paper caps engraved with burin. Metal meridian circle with degree division; wooden horizon circle covered with printed paper with degree division, calendar, zodiac signs and wind names. Original wooden stand.

This “portable theater of land and sea,” as the author himself calls it in the dedication, represents a synthesis of knowledge of the earth at the end of the 16th century, a time when the season of great geographical discoveries had not yet ended and the boundaries of the world were being defined. Thus, while Europe, Asia, and Africa are well delineated and abound in indications and geographical names, the contours of North America still appear uncertain and in several places inexact; place names are concentrated along the coasts and become increasingly sparse as one proceeds northward from South America. A vast southern continent, “Terra Australis Magallanica,” occupies a very large area around the Antarctic pole pushing as far south as America, where it incorporates Tierra del Fuego.

The globe is embellished with drawings and inscriptions enclosed in frames, containing the dedication, notice to the reader, a praise of Vasco de Gama, and a text on the discovery of America. Depictions of animals and groups of natives populate the continents; ships, fish and mythological figures are drawn in the spaces of the oceans, along with twelve roses of thirty-two winds.