BY W & A K JOHNSTON, 1888

The firm of W. & A.K. Johnston was founded in 1825 by engraver William Johnston (1802-1888), joined the following year by his brother Alexander Keith (1804-1871). The pair had previously been apprenticed to the leading Scottish globe-maker, James Kirkwood, until a fire destroyed his workshops in 1824, and quickly usurped the position of Kirkwood & Son as the foremost globe-makers in Scottland. Their first globe, published in 1828, was a 4 1/2-inch diameter terrestrial sphere, engraved for Donaldson, another former collaborator with Kirkwood, but in time, following their introduction of the first 12" geo-physical globe onto the market, the Johnstons were the leaders of the field throughout Great Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century. No doubt as a result of this they were offered a Royal Appointment by Queen Victoria. The Johnston firm produced globes of 6, 12, 18 and 30-inch diameter, well into the first half of the twentieth century