 A bill in the accounts of 11 April 1717 for " repairing the globes in the library " is the earliest reference to the Middle Temple 's ownership of the Molyneux terrestrial and celestial globes . Markham 's view was that Robert Ashley ( 1565 – 1641 ) , a barrister of the Middle Temple who was also an ardent geographer , was likely to have left the globes to the Inn in his will , together with his books . Ashley 's books formed the nucleus of the Inn 's original library and included copies of the second edition of Hues ' Tractatus de Globis and other works on cosmography . On the other hand , Wallis has said that Markham 's view is not supported by any available evidence and the globes are not mentioned in the will . She believes that they were probably acquired by Middle Temple on their publication in 1603 . 
