Today we mostly think of globes as spherical maps of the world, an assumption that largely obscures how these once important scientific instruments were made and used in the past. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, globes were produced in large numbers as sophisticated demonstration and calculation devices or as instruments of exploration, making them symbols of learning and status. This is one of the main lessons from this new publication that draws on some of the world's best collections to present a beautifully illustrated overview.

Sylvia Sumira is the world's most experienced globe conservator and so knows what she's writing about. In the first section, she offers a short historical overview from ancient Greece to the nineteenth century, focusing in particular on the period from the introduction of the printed globe as we know it in Louvain around the 1540s. The story largely focuses on the makers responsible for the innovations that created the globes we now encounter in collections worldwide. With the growth of global exploration as one driver, the printed globe as we know it emerged in the sixteenth century. The key agent was Gemma Frisius, whose work in collaboration with Gaspard van der Hayden and Gerard Mercator created a standard form and method of production. He also established the notion of a pair of globes, terrestrial and celestial together. But globes were not simply Earth-shaped maps: their accessories turned them into analogue computers for calculating and demonstrating the movements of the Sun and other stars. Other scientific, cartographic and navigational functions developed over time. As Sumira notes, globes could be

Globe-making gradually spread to other cities, starting with Amsterdam and then London, and the survey takes us through some of the key makers from different countries: Moxon, Blaeu, Hondius, Coronelli, Greuter, Delisle, Senex and many others. What is presented is a story of gradual growth in production across Europe and America, albeit in fits and starts (since it must have been a costly enterprise to set up), until the nineteenth century, when manufacturing, as for many other products, expanded enormously. It was at this point that increasing numbers began to be produced primarily for educational purposes. The notion of a pair as a natural unit waned, with the celestial globe becoming optional and terrestrial globes facing competition from atlases and charts.

The first part also looks at how globes were made. This is a valuable addition, which draws on Sumira's expertise and well-reproduced colour images to look inside objects that are surprisingly complex to construct. It shows very well the complexities of producing a strong, yet relatively light, globe that would rotate well – and some of the rough-and-ready methods adopted.

There follows a catalogue of sixty globes made between 1492 and 1884 to illustrate how they changed and developed over time. This is pretty much the collection you could only dream of bringing together. Many are taken from the British Library's collection, supplemented with examples from other important collections, including the National Maritime Museum and others. The entries for each globe are quite brief, but touch on their key features and significance within the overall history. Those chosen include gems such as the oldest surviving terrestrial globe, Martin Behaim's of 1492, and the earliest known example from China, right up to representatives of the age of mass production in the nineteenth century. The whole ends with a useful glossary of technical terms to help you tell your analemma from your asterism.

This is not intended as a detailed study, but as an affordable and well-illustrated survey of some of the most significant and beautiful examples of what was once an important instrument, the past uses and meanings of which we now easily forget. It succeeds in that. This is an attractive book at a reasonable price written by someone who knows what she is talking about. It may teach you something new and hopefully will act as an inspiration to put globes back into their historical context.