Globe showing the circumnavigation of Elizabeth Bisland
- Made:
- circa 1890 in unknown place
Six-inch terrestrial globe, maker unknown, c. 1890. Shows the route taken by American journalist Elizabeth Bisland, of The Cosmopolitan magazine, as she raced fellow journalist Nellie Bly to circumnavigate the world in under 80 days, as Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg had in the 1872 novel Around the World in Eighty Days [Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours]. This globe only shows Bisland's westward route (Bly travelled eastwards). It also shows steamer routes and their duration in days, and the location of various submarine telegraph cables.
The race between Bly, of The World magazine, and Bisland to circumnavigate the globe between November 1889 and January 1890 gripped the attention of the American public. Bisland was successful in beating the fictional Fogg, completing the challenge in 76 days, though lost the race to Bly by four days. The origins of this globe that traces Bisland’s route are not known, though it may have been commissioned by The Cosmopolitan for promotional purposes.
Details
- Category:
- Astronomy
- Object Number:
- 2023-79
- Materials:
- paper (fibre product), metal (unknown) and plaster of Paris
- Measurements:
-
overall: 250 mm x 155 mm x 155 mm,
- type:
- terrestrial globe
- credit:
- Bonhams