page_title: Emery Molyneux
section_title: Celestial globes
hierarchical_section_title: Emery Molyneux / Globe-maker / Construction / Celestial globes
caption_attribution_description: Title page of The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation&#160;: Made by Sea or Over Land to the Most Remote and Farthest Distant Quarters of the Earth at Any Time within the Compasse of These 1500 Years&#160;: Divided into Three Several Parts According to the Positions of the Regions Whereunto They Were Directed; the First Containing the Personall Travels of the English unto Indæa, Syria, Arabia... the Second, Comprehending the Worthy Discoveries of the English Towards the North and Northeast by Sea, as of Lapland... the Third and Last, Including the English Valiant Attempts in Searching Almost all the Corners of the Vaste and New World of America... Whereunto is Added the Last Most Renowned English Navigation Round About the Whole Globe of the Earth (London: Imprinted by George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, printer to the Queen’s Most Excellent Majestie).
context_page_description: Emery Molyneux was an English Elizabethan maker of globes, mathematical instruments and ordnance. His terrestrial and celestial globes, first published in 1592, were the first to be made in England and the first to be made by an Englishman.
  Molyneux was known as a mathematician and maker of mathematical instruments such as compasses and hourglasses. He became acquainted with many prominent men of the day, including the writer Richard Hakluyt and the mathematicians Robert Hues and Edward Wright. He also knew the explorers Thomas Cavendish, Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh and John Davis. Davis probably introduced Molyneux to his own patron, the London merchant William Sanderson, who largely financed the construction of the globes. When completed, the globes were presented to Elizabeth I. Larger globes were acquired by royalty, noblemen and academic institutions, while smaller ones were purchased as practical navigation aids for sailors and students. The globes were the first to be made in such a way that they were unaffected by the humidity at sea, and they came into general use on ships.
  Molyneux emigrated to Amsterdam with his wife in 1596 or 1597.
context_section_description: Molyneux's celestial globe was virtually a copy of Gerardus Mercator's globe of 1551, which itself was based on a globe of 1537 by Gemma Frisius that Mercator had helped to construct. To the constellations featured on Mercator's globe, Molyneux added the Southern Cross and Southern Triangle, though somewhat to the west of their true positions. His source appears to have been Andrea Corsali's diagram of the Antarctic sky published in 1550.
  Molyneux's globes were the first to be constructed in such a way that they were unaffected by humidity at sea. They were made of flour-paste, an unusual material for the time. Simon Forman remarked that Molyneux's moulding or casting process was "the only way to caste [anything] whatsoever in perfecte forme ... and yt is the perfectest and trewest waie of all wayes ... and this was the wai that Mullenax did use to cast flowere [flour] in the verie forme".
caption: The title page of Richard Hakluyt's 1589 work The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation, which announced the coming publication of Molyneux's terrestrial globe
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