Anders Åkerman

Despite continuous support from several benefactors, the production never became commercially viable and suffered further setback following a fire which devastated Åkerman's workshop in 1766.

[4] He also printed a hydrographic map of the Gulf of Finland and an atlas for children in 1768; the latter became a success and new editions appeared in 1774, as well as after Åkerman's death, in 1807, 1810, 1813, and 1815.

[5] Åkerman started the first production of terrestrial and celestial globes in Sweden, and has therefore been given the epithet the "father of Swedish globemaking".

[9] Though never commercially viable, the globe workshop he had founded in Uppsala was contextually part of a scientifically very productive time in Sweden, during the second half of the 18th century.

[3] Fredrik Akrel, who had studied under Åkerman, was appointed as his successor by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1788.

[12][16] With approval thus obtained, Åkerman established a workshop in Uppsala to produce the globes with the support of the society (not least the wealthy merchant and landowner John Jennings [sv], who was a member).

[17] Soon afterwards, the society commissioned Åkerman to expand the range, and in 1762 a pair of globes with a diameter of 11 centimetres (4.3 in) entered the market.

[c][21][22] Contentwise, the terrestrial globes were made using mainly maps available to Åkerman in the collections of Uppsala University Library, including by cartographers Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville and Jacques-Nicolas Bellin.

Information obtained from travelogues of recent voyages by George Anson and Charles Marie de La Condamine were also used as sources.

[12] Åkerman's first celestial globes were made with the aid of the star catalogues by John Flamsteed and Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille.

[7] The larger globes, intended to be placed on the floor, were fitted in stands made in a Rococo style, painted red and decorated with brass details.

Globes by Åkerman also found their way to University of Rostock, Märkisches Museum and Forschungsbibliothek Gotha [de], all in Germany.