The Bardin Globes A couple of years ago (2007/8) a gentleman visitor asked me if the globes in the library were Bardin globes. I agreed that they were and he said they must have been made by his Great, Great, Great Grandmother Elizabeth Bardin. I obtained permission for us both to take a close look at the globes.
The Bardin company was founded in 1780
by William Bardin (1740-1798) in association with Gabriel Wright. Their
first globes were produced in 1782 until William Bardin moved premises
in 1794. By then his son, Thomas Marriot Bardin (1768-1819) had finished
his 7-year apprenticeship with his father and went into partnership
with him. Until then the globes manufactured had been 9 and 12 inches
in diameter but around 1798 they produced 18inch globes like the one
at Charlecote. In 1820, a year after Thomas Bardin's death, his Daughter,
Elizabeth Marriot Bardin (1799-1851) took over the running of the company.
In 1832 she married a silversmith, Samuel Sabine Edkins (1791-1853)
and the globes then produced bore his name until his death when the
firm ceased production.
How globes were made
Australia
Lyra
after restoration
The engraved equators require a lot of restoration. I show the one from the celestial globe.
Working outwards from the globe the equator is graduated in degrees and then hours followed by the Houses of the Zodiac and, finally, months of the year.
Each globe carries a cartouche. There are very difficult to read with the easiest being on the Celestial globe.
It transcribes as To the Rev. / NEVILLE MASKELYNE, D.D., F.R.S./ Astronomer Royal/ This New British Celestial Globe /Containing the Positions of nearly 6000 Stars, Clusters, Nebulae, Planetary Nebulae &c., Correctly computed & laid down for the year 1800 : from the latest observati-/ons and discoveries by Maskelyne, Dr. Herschel, The Revd. Mr. Wollaston &c. &c./ respectfully Dedicated/ by his most obedient hble. Servants, / W. & T.M. Bardin
The Terrestial cartouche is partly obscured by the Equatorial frame and I did not have permission to rotate the globe. It is surmounted by Brittania and Captain Cook (or it could be Joseph Banks).
It reads
Bardin globes were often more colourful than the Charlecote globes. Here is an example from 1800
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a globe gore 
A
sphere was covered with moist papier-mâché and left to
dry. It was then cut with a sharp knife around the equator to create
two hemispheres. These were then removed from the sphere and glued together
to create a hollow ball. This was covered to a thickness of one eighth
of an inch (3mm) with white enamel made from whitening, oil, turpentine
and glue. The ball was then machined to make a perfect sphere using
a metal rod down the centre to hold it. The metal rod left holes which
marked the two poles and allowed suspension of the globe in a frame..
The globe was then marked into mathematical segments that correspond
to the sections of the map that were pasted on. The map was a copper
engraving that was then printed onto linen paper. Each segment might
have been cut out or the whole printed as a globe gore. The linen paper
was then pasted on so that the segments joined perfectly at the edges.
Where the segments joined at the pole there was often a brass graduated
cap to make it look neater but our globes do not have these. Instead
there is a graduated ring.
Scale of nine orders of Star magnitude
after restoration
.
