1955 Documentary Captures Final Era of Handcrafted Globe Production in London

A 1955 British Pathé documentary filmed in North London shows the traditional handcrafting of globes, a practice dating back to 1492 when Martin Behaim and Georg Glockendon created the first known terrestrial globe. The footage depicts workers at a London firm producing approximately 60,000 globes annually through meticulous manual processes including applying colored map sections to spherical molds. This marked the end of a 500-year tradition before mechanization became dominant. The article also references Bellerby & Co., a contemporary London workshop that continues producing handcrafted globes, preserving this artisanal craft.