The Development Of Glasses
Today, if we start finding that our vision is impaired – if we have difficulty focussing on objects far away, or squint in an attempt to read a book – we book an appointment with an optician to get a diagnosis of our eyesight and expect to have it corrected with glasses. We take it for granted that the medical knowledge is there.
When Were Corrective Glasses First Developed?
Initially people used a form of magnifying glass to allow them to focus on objects. Because the printing press hadn’t been developed (and the majority of people were illiterate) there was not such a demand for reading glasses and people just put up with the sight that they had.
Marco Polo travelled to China in 1270 and brought back many new inventions with him – one of them thought to be eye glasses although this is in dispute. Another school of thought believes that spectacles were developed in what was known as Arabia. One thing is for sure – every nation had people who would have needed their vision corrected and the inventors of the age would have spent time discovering methods of doing this.
When the printing press was developed, books became available to the masses, resulting in a demand for corrective glasses so that people could read clearly. Glasses became something of a fashion item – even to the extent of people wearing them for vanity, rather than because they needed to.
Who Sold Glasses Before Opticians?
The equivalent of the travelling salesman – a pedlar – would have sold glasses. The design was largely that of lenses that balanced on the nose, requiring the wearer to remain very still so that they didn’t fall off.
The equivalent of designer glasses was to have your frames created from gold, silver or other precious metals. If your means were more humble, the frames would have been made from horn, bone or even wood!
Later on, a reading ‘piece’ was developed with a lens on a single stem, which the user would pull out of a pocket to peer at the item he wanted to see. Ladies would use ‘lorgnettes’ which were two lenses for both eyes, held up to improve vision. Lorgnettes were often in intricate designs.
In time, folding glasses that could be kept in the pocket were created and monocles (one lens put in one eye) were fashionable for a while.
Today we have an amazing choice of eye glasses in a variety of styles with a variety of prices to suit everybody’s budget. Most people have more than one pair and many change their glasses to suit their outfit, and have prescription lenses fitted to sunglasses.
Life is much easier for the spectacle wearer today with more choice. Our ancestors would have been amazed at how advanced glasses are and how effective at improving sight.
Shop our cheap glasses online here.
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