My Globes Are Better Than Yours
Tuesday, September 14th, 2010History of science professor Darin Hayton discusses (and includes photos of the Haverford copy of) Joseph Moxon’s A Tutor to Astronomy and Geography, Or an Easie and Speedy way to Know the Use of both the Globes, Coelestial and Terrestrial on the Philadelphia Area Center for the History of Science blog PACHSmörgåsbord.
Joseph Moxon’s efforts to popularize astronomy extended well beyond his astronomical playing cards (see Moxon’s Astronomical Playing Cards). He also wrote a number of English-language instruction manuals to help people learn astronomy and learn how to use the astronomical instruments Moxon himself made and sold. His efforts to bring astronomy to a broader audience were motivated, at least in part, by his instrument business, especially globes.
In 1654 he first published his A Tutor to Astronomy and Geography, Or an Easie and Speedy way to Know the Use of both the Globes, Coelestial and Terrestrial. This edition was, as the title makes clear, not his own composition but rather a translation of the first part of Gulielmus Bleau’s Institutio astronomica de usu globarum & sphaerarum caelestium ac terrestium. Moxon’s text must have sold reasonably well for he soon published a second, enlarged edition. He continued to expand his text until at least 1686, when he published the fourth edition.