French Wood Terrestrial Globe by J. Lebegue Co.

Sepia oceans, faded borders and a cartouche that names its Paris printer with some pride.

This terrestrial globe is by J. Lebegue Co., from Paris, France, and dates to around 1885, in plaster, paper and wood. Globes of that century were usually made by pasting printed paper gores over a plaster-coated sphere, then varnishing them. Here the continents and oceans are lettered in French, with the equinoctial line marked across the middle. A cartouche reads Globe Terrestre, with the maker's Paris address. The sphere turns in a dark metal half meridian on a turned wooden stand with a round foot. It is 19 inches high and 9 in diameter.

The world, as seen from Paris, which was rather the idea.