Tag Archives: Glasses

Features

The View From Where You Sit: Personal Magnification Devices

Posted on by Maxine Carter-Lome
Microscope: 3 convex lenses in the inner cylinder, fitting into shagreen (snakeskin)- covered tube, with gilt-bronze finial cap and tripod stand, optics by Passemant, ingénieur du roi, France, c. 1750 photo: metmuseum.org
21
Sep

by Melody Amsel-Arieli   Simple magnification devices, like water-filled spheres and rock crystal (quartz) “burning glasses” were known around the Mediterranean and across the Middle East in ancient times. These evidently served not only to light kindling but also to cauterize wounds and enlarge texts. According to Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, Nero viewed gladiator […]

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Features

Seeing is Believing: Extravagant 1950s & '60s Eyewear

Posted on by Collector
Seeing is Believing: Extravagant 1950s & '60s Eyewear
03
Nov

By Donald-Brian Johnson Photos by Leslie Piña Writer Dorothy Parker once declared that “men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses.” Judging by what, for many years, constituted eyewear fashion, Dorothy may have had a point. Although eyeglasses had been around since medieval times (illustrations exist of early Chinese and Italians wearing them), they […]

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