ABSTRACT
For many people the name George Adams is associated primarily with two products: microscopes and globes. George Adams senior had many other interests besides these, and although microscopes were certainly amongst his products almost from the commencement of his business in the mid-1730s, globes did not assume much importance until twenty years later. In 1754 Adams was one of several instrument makers who subscribed for, and presumably sold, Daniel Fenning's New and easy Guide to the Use of the Globes. By the time the globes were on sale in July 1766, Adams's shop had been allocated number 60. In the absence of detailed archives for either Adams's or Martin's businesses, it is impossible to say for certain what effect the introduction of Adams's globes had on Martin's sales; but the fact that Adams's globes have survived in somewhat greater numbers than Martin's suggests that after 1766 much of the globe trade was captured by Adams.
