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Category: Maps

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Pocket Globes: The Whole World in Your Hand

Posted by: Neely Tucker

The Library of Congress is now home to a huge collection of nearly 100 pocket globes -- miniature globes that were fashionable art objects from the 17th to 19th centuries, during the age of exploration. The globes, perhaps three inches in diameter, were made of everything from ivory to papier mache, some housed in expensive sharkskin boxes. The family and foundation of the late Jay I. Kislak donated 74 pocket globes to the Library recently, adding to the collector's prodigious donations to the Library's Geography and Map Division.

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

The Islamic World Map of 1154

Posted by: Neely Tucker

In 1154, Arab Muslim geographer al-Idrisi, working at the behest of King Roger of Sicily, created a huge map of the known world. The map was more than 9 feet long and composed of 70 separate section maps. The Library preserves a 1928 recreation of this map.