ABSTRACT
So said Thomas Hood, in 1592, discussing the uses of the Molyneux Globes, the fi rst English-manufactured globes. There are several things to notice about this quotation. First, Hood suggests that globes were to be seen fi rst and foremost as mathematical instruments-that is, instruments used to measure the natural world-rather than as philosophical instruments (those used to understand the underlying essences of things) or as aesthetic objects. Second, such instruments were not, in and of themselves, self-evident in their use. That use needed to be articulated by mathematicians and other instructors. Thus, these globes needed a community of scholars and consumers already aware of their importance and the globes in turn had a function in creating a larger public, since they required a range of people interested in their manufacture and use, in order to have meaning.
