Blaeu’s earliest globes, as has been noted, were of small dimensions. It must have been shortly after the year 1616 that he decided to undertake the construction of those of much greater size, to the end of making his work the more serviceable; but to this he may have been led in part, as before noted, by the success of the large globes of Hondius of the year 1613.[39] Unfortunately it is not easy to determine the exact date of the several issues of his work appearing in the last twenty years of his life. In general, the date of the construction of the globes of these years is altogether wanting. The dedications in the several reprints or editions vary, as do many of the inscriptions, while the large size of the globes remains practically the same. One cannot feel certain that a date, apparently given as the year of construction, is accurate, since it is very evident in the several reprints care was not always given to this detail. The first issue of his large terrestrial globes seems to date from the year 1622, though the suggestion is not wanting that he had actually completed the celestial globe before the close of the year 1616. With but slight variation in the form of the expression, we find on all examples of his largest globes the inscription “Amstelredami. Excusum in aedibus auctoris ...,” indicating at least that the printing was done in the author’s Amsterdam workshop. All have a diameter of about 68 cm., though the mountings of the several known examples differ somewhat.