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4to., signed in 2's (9 1/8 x 9 ¼ inches). 2 engraved hand-colored maps of the hemispheres, each mounted as a volvelle with metal distance band, engraved plate (one or two spots). Original publisher's quarter red straight-grained morocco, green cloth, with black paper lettering piece to the front cover, gilt, preserved in a wooden slipcase (spine a bit worn, one or two pale stains). First edition. The two gorgeous hemisphere maps with functional moving parts. A contemporary review of this book says, "The Plane Globe is an ingenious contrivance, consisting of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres printed on circular pieces of card-board, and inserted in the insides of the two thick covers of a square thin book; each hemisphere moving under the brass meridian that confines it in its place, so that problems can be worked with it as with the rotund sphere. The Treatise on Modern Geography, enclosed between the two hemispheres, is clear and comprehensive; containing an immense amount of statistical and other useful information, packed into a close compass, and so well arranged that individual facts appertaining to any country are easily ascertained: for instance, the latitude and longitude, population, products, and manufactures of every chief town in the world. The topography of the British Isles is still more fully and minutely described: the boundaries and extent of each country - the population, constituencies, and parishes - the average rent of and per acre, the ratio of crime and instruction, and the average amount of productions - are stated. The general account of the different states and kingdoms, though concise, is lively and pregnant with matter. In a word, the publication is a complete multum in parvo of 'Geography and the use of the Globe.' A pair of Celestial Hemispheres are mentioned in the title, but these have not reached us. Joseph Bentley, the inventor of the Plane Globe, is the compiler of the Geography also; and his labour and ingenuity are admirable: we must, however, as in all similar cases, assume, for it would be easier to write the Treatise than to verify, the general correctness of his multitudinous facts" (The Spectator, vol. 12, 1839). Seller Inventory # 72MMS166
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