Making globes of the world the old-fashioned way — by hand — is exceedingly arduous, which is why almost no one does it anymore.

London-based company Bellerby & Co is among the last group of craftspeople dedicated to the lost art of globemaking (the only other one I can think of being Lander & May), and it all started when founder Peter Bellerby couldn't find the perfect handmade globe for his father's 80th birthday (with some minor edits on my part):

The difficulty I had was that none of the current breed of globemakers — and I mean ALL the current globemakers and copy artists/model makers — are producing anything close to perfect globes. Latitude lines that don’t match is a personal passion.

There are makers who overlap gores to the extent that they wipe out entire countries. There are even some who, in order to prevent the paper ridging, cut out little triangles of map. How is it possible to do it so badly? Some makers even have latitude lines that look like they have been drawn with a ruler after the map has been pasted on, they are so straight.

There just seemed little point in spending two years researching a project only to produce a poor quality finish.

And so, 10 years later, Peter and his studio now produce high-quality handmade globes, expertly crafted and lovingly produced using both traditional and modern techniques.

Bellerby & Co were featured on Great Big Story a couple years ago, offering a brief glimpse at their process:

The globes are offered in a number of sizes, ranging from 22cm (8.7") in diameter all the way up to 127cm (50") across. Fair warning: Expect to pay a very pretty penny for these handcrafted globes. Prices range anywhere from £1,199 (~$1,524 USD) on the small end to a whopping £59,000 (~$75,000 USD) if you order their largest offering, "The Churchill".

If you're not deterred by that, visit Bellerby and Co's website to learn more and/or set up a custom globe purchase of your own. I also suggest following them on Instagram if you often enjoy seeing artisans at work.