¹ See Milne, G. & Milne, C., Medieval Waterfront Development at Trig Lane, London, London and Middlesex Arch. Soc. Special Paper, v (1982)Google Scholar. The site is described in Milne, G. & Milne, C., ‘Excavations on the Thames Waterfront at Trig Lane, London, 1974–6’, Med. Arch. xxii(1978), 84–104CrossRefGoogle Scholar, but it should be noted that the dating of the G15 wall and the associated rubbish (including the spectacles) was revised shortly after the publication of this article.

² ‘Der Brillenmacher’ in J. Amman and H. Sachs, Eygentliche Beschreibung alter Stände auff Erden (Nuremberg, 1568), republished as The Book of Trades (New York, 1973).Google Scholar

³ R. J. Charleston, ‘Glass’, in Singer, C., Holmyard, E. J., Hall, A. R. and Williams, T. I. (eds.), A History of Technology, III (Oxford, 1957). P. 231Google Scholar

⁴ Professor M. von Rohr, ‘Contributions to the history of the spectacle trade from the earliest times to Thomas Young's appearance', Trans. Optical Soc. xxv, no. 2 (1923–1924), 44.Google Scholar

⁵ As suggested to me by Mr. P. Fairbanks. It should be noted that compasses or dividers were also used for cutting out the Wienhausen spectacle frames, to be discussed later: see Appuhn, H., ‘A memorable find’ Zeiss Werk-zeitschrift, xxvii (1958), 5.Google Scholar

⁶ Information from Mr. P. Fairbanks. The replica spectacles, which follow the design of the Wienhausen spectacles, are in his possession.

⁷ By Tobias Stimmer (1539–84), reproduced by Kühn, G. and Roos, W., ‘Sieben Jahrhunderte Brille’, Deutsches Museum Abhand-lungen und Berichte, xxxvi (1968), 5–91, Abb. 6.Google Scholar

⁸ Professor M. von Rohr, ‘Additions to our knowledge of old spectacles: a summary of papers published in 1923–4 relating to the subject of the Thomas Young Oration of 1923’, Trans. Optical Soc. xxvi (1924–1925), 175–7 and figs. 2–4.Google Scholar

⁹ Professor O. Hallauer in Professor Greef, Dr. R.et al., Katalogue einer Bilderausstellung zur Geschichte der Brille (Amsterdam, 1929), pp. 194–5.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Professor Weve, H. J. M. in Greef, op. cit., p. 222.Google Scholar

¹¹ Posthumous portrait of Hugh of St. Cher, Cardinal Ugone, by Tommaso da Moderna, in the Chapter House of the Church of St. Nicholas, Treviso, 1352. Reproduced in most books and articles on spectacles.

¹² Nuremberg: Meister des Tucheralters, ‘Beschneidung Christi’ of 1450 in the Soudermondt Museum at Aachen. Munich: copper engraving by Martin Schongauer of the ‘Death of Mary’ of 1470 in the Staatlichen Graphischen Sammlung. Ghent: Jan van Eyck, ‘Maria mit dem Kind’ of 1436, in the Church of St.Donatius. Weingarten: woodcarving in the choir stalls of Weingarten monastery by Heinrich Yselin von Constanz, 1473. Lucerne:carving on the fifteenth-century ‘Maria-End’ altar in the Hofkirche (see E. H. Schmitz, Die Sehhilfe im Wandel der Jahrhunderte (Stuttgart, 1961), Bilden 7,11, 23, 13 and 12 respectively). Florence: mural by Ghirlandaio (1449–94) in All Saints’ Church (see Barck, C., The History of Spectacles, Originally Delivered as a Lecture before the Academy of Science, St. Louis (Chicago, 1907), p. 8).Google Scholar

¹³ The frames of the Type III spectacles at Wienhausen (Appuhn, op. cit., 8 and fig. 6) were constructed in two halves which were stuck together, the edges of each lens having been sandwiched between them in a specially made groove.

¹⁴ Meister des Albrechtsalters, ‘Tod der Maria’ in the monastery at Klosterneuburg, Austria (Schmitz, op. cit., Bild 4).

¹⁵ By Friedrich Herlin of the Circumcision of Christ (Schmitz, op. cit., Bild 10) and of St. Peter (Kühn and Roos, op. cit, 12, Abb. 4) in the Church of St. Jacob.

¹⁶ Schmitz, op. cit., Bild 39a.

¹⁷ Ibid., Bild 5.

¹⁸ Grossmann, T., ‘The spectacles on the grotesque helmet in the Tower of London’, Zeiss Werkzeitschrift, xxv (1957), 74–6.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Loc. cit., note 9.

²⁰ The Chapel itself was constructed between 1502 and 1519 (R.C.H.M., An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in London. I. Westminster Abbey (London, 1924), p. 59)Google Scholar, but prior to his death, Henry had made provision in his will that the ‘ymagies of the same our chapell… be painted, garnisshed and adorned with our armes, bagies, cognoisaunts, and other convenient painteng... ‘(Micklethwaite, J. T., ‘Notes on the imagery of Henry the Seventh's Chapel, Westminster’, Archaeologia, xlvii (1883), 368)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.This suggests that the statues had already been positioned at the time of his death in 1509; there is, incidentally, no evidence to suggest that the work ever took place.

²¹ R.C.H.M. op. cit., pp. 64–5 and pi. 215, image nos. 38, 60 and 98 respectively.

²² As described by Weve, op. cit., pp. 199–202.

²³ Ibid., p. 200.

²⁴ Appuhn, op cit.

²⁵ Ibid.

²⁶ Court, T. H. and Rohr, M. von, ‘On the development of spectacles in London from the end of the seventeenth century’, Trans. Optical Soc. xxx (1928–1929), 2.Google Scholar

²⁷ See Appuhn, op. cit., figs. 1 and 2.

²⁸ This seems to be confirmed by the replica spectacles referred to earlier (note 6). The projections in these spectacles are cut, not broken, with the result that even the most tightly tied linen cords cannot prevent some movement between the cut surfaces.

²⁹ Posthumous portrait of Cardinal Ugone, see note 11.

³⁰ Op. cit., 7.

³¹ ‘Conspicilla’ by Phillip Galle, after Stradamus's Nova Reperta, 1600 (reproduced in Corson, R., Fashions in Eyeglasses (London, 1967), p. 32, fig. 9); see also the spectacle maker in Amman and Sachs, loc. cit.Google Scholar

³² Appuhn, op cit., 7.

³³ See e.g. Charleston, loc. cit.

³⁴ Von Rohr, op. cit., note 4, 45.

³⁵ See note 15.

³⁶ Dr. K. Lundsgaard in Greef, op. cit., p. 98.

³⁷ Schmitz, op. cit., p. 31.

³⁸ See Clay, R. S., The History of the Microscope (London, 1931), p. 6Google Scholar, or Bradbury, S., The Evolution of the Microscope (Oxford, 1967), p. 6.Google Scholar

³⁹ Martin Schongauer's engraving of the Death of Mary, a fifteenth-century carving on the ‘Maria-End’ altar in the Hofkirche of Lucerne (see note 12), and ‘El Transito de la Virge’ by Maestro de la Sisla, c. 1500, now in the Prado, Madrid (I am indebted to Frances Pritchard for drawing my attention to this work).

⁴⁰ Colyn Blowbol's Testament, in Halliwell, J. O., Nugae Poeticae. Select Pieces of Old English Popular Poetry, Illustrating the Manners and. Arts of the Fifteenth Century (London, 1844), pp. 1–12.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Greef, op. cit., p. 254; for an excavated example see Altend, H. H. Regteren and Zantkuhl, H. J., ‘A medieval house site in Amsterdam’, Berichten van de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek, xix (1968), pl. xxxvi and 244.Google Scholar

⁴² ‘El Transito de la Virge’ by Maestro de la Sisla, c. 1500 (see note 39). These differ from the Trig Lane spectacles in that it is not their handles which widen to form a strong junction with the rims, but the rims themselves which on one side of each half of the spectacles thicken towards the handles. It is into these thickened parts of the rims that the teeth have been cut.

⁴³ Appuhn, op. cit., 7.

⁴⁴ See e.g. Meister des Albrechtsalters ‘Tod der Maria’ of 1439 (ref. note 14).

⁴⁵ Especially ‘Beschneidung Christi’ of 1450 in the Soudermondt Museum at Aachen (Schmitz, op. cit., Bild 7); Meister von Grossgmain, ‘Der heilige Augustinus’ of 1498 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna (ibid., Bild 18); wood-cut of Circumcision of Christ by A. Dürer (Weve, op. cit., p. 58).

⁴⁶ e.g. on the stone effigy at St. Martin's, Salisbury; Friedrich Herlin's painting of the Circumcision of Christ in the Church of St. Jacob, Rothenburg am Tauber; and ‘The Death of the Virgin’, 1480, by an unknown Burgundy painter in the Museum of Lyon (Schmitz, op. cit., Bilden 5, 10 and 15 resp.)

⁴⁷ Zubov, V. P., Leonardo da Vinci, translated from the Russian by Kraus, D. H. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1968), pp. 147–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴⁸ Crombie, A. C. in Bradbury, S. and Turner, G. L'E., Historical Aspects of Microscopy (Cambridge, 1967), p. 42.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ By ayleigh, Lord, e.g. in Shuster, Sir A. and Nicholson, J. W., An Introduction to the Theory of Optics, 3rd edn. (London, 1924), pp. 166–7.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Mandeville, Richard, The Eskimo and their Methods of Eye Protection (unpublished thesis, City University, 1976).Google Scholar

⁵¹ Sir Murray, James A. H., Bradley, H., Craigie, W. A. and Onions, C. T., A New English Dictionary, IX, Pt. 1 (Oxford, 1919), PP. 553–4.Google Scholar

⁵² B. Spencer, pers. comm.

⁵³ For a published example mistakenly attributed to the Roman period see Wacher, J., The Coming of Rome (London, 1980), p. 96, pl. 44.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Controller's Particular Account of the Subsidy on Tonage and Poundage, Port of London, 1st July to Michaelmas 1384, P.R.O. E122/71/8 Membrane 4 (information from Vanessa Harding).

⁵⁵ S. J. H. Herrtage (ed.), Catholicon Anglicum, an English-Latin Wordbook, dated 1483, Early Eng. Text Soc. Orig. Ser. lxxv (1881), pp. 223, 236.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Ibid., p. 352.

⁵⁷ For a scholarly appraisal of the evidence see Rosen, E., ‘The invention of eyeglasses’, J. Hist. Medicine and Allied Sciences ii, (1956), 13–46 and 183–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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⁶⁰ Riley, H. T., Memorials of London and London Life in the XIIIth, XlVth and XVth Centuries (London, 1868), pp. 422–3.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Loc. cit. note 54. Eight gross of spectacles were imported between July 1st and Michaelmas.

⁶² See e.g. Schmitz, op. cit., pp. 17 and 35–6 et seq.

⁶³ Von Rohr, op. cit., note 4, 44.

⁶⁴ Jacob, E. F. and Johnson, H. C. (eds.), The Register of Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1414–43, Vol. III (Canterbury and York Soc. xlii, 1937), p. 102.Google Scholar

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⁶⁷ Reed, op. cit. The steep inflation of the late fourteenth century adds further weight to this point.

⁶⁸ Mellows, W. T., King, P. I. and Brooke, C. N. L, The Book of William Morton, Almoner of Peterborough Monastery (Northants. Record Soc. xvi, 1954), p. 164.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Dean and Chapter Library, Canterbury, Ms. C. II. fol. 130b. An earlier entry (1514) among the same accounts may also refer to spectacles. This reads pro duobus paribus specularum et le case—Vd (loc. cit., fol. 123b).

⁷⁰ Andrew, L., ‘Some notes on the history of spectacles’, Trans. Lancs, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xlii (1925), 1–24.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Controller's Particular Account of the Subsidy on Tonage and Poundage, Port of London. 1st July—Michaelmas, 1384: P.R.O. E122/71/8 Membrane 4; 24th April, 1390: P.R.O. E122/71/6. The former document records that eight gross of spectacles were imported during the period with which it is concerned.

⁷² Bird, W. H. B. and Pugh, R. B., Calendar of the Close Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office, Henry VI, Vol. V, A.D. 1447–54 (London, 1947). PP. 169 and 174.Google Scholar

⁷³ Information from H. Cobb.

⁷⁴ Sir Nicolas, N. H. and Tyrrell, E. (eds.), A Chronicle of London, from 1083–1483 (London, 1827), p. 262.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Greef, op. cit., p. 238.

⁷⁶ Dr. H. J. Smit, Bronnen tot de Geschiedenis van den Handel met Engeland, Schotland en Ierland I (‘S-Gravenhage, 1928), p. 1075, item 1678.

⁷⁷ See note 71. In both accounts the spectacles are recorded as having been imported with small manufactured goods which are likely to have been made in the Low Countries, and in the former account the master of the ship is named as Lambert van North (information from Vanessa Harding).

⁷⁸ P.R.O. E122/194/25; information from H. Cobb.

⁷⁹ Gras, N. S. B., The Early English Customs System (Harvard Economic Studies, xviii, Cambridge, Mass., 1918), p. 703.Google Scholar

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⁸¹ See Bird, W. H. B. and Ledward, K. H., Calendar of the Close Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office, Henry VI, Vol. VI, 1454–1461 (London, 1947), pp. 303 and 348Google Scholar, where in two separate wills he was left goods, chattels and debts by a ‘Master Gerard van Delft, physician’, and one ‘Arnald Arnaldesson of London, merchant’. Reed, op. cit., has asserted that the earliest known English spectacle maker is a Spyke Dowd who was active in London in 1485. Unfortunately he has not provided a reference for this statement, and an extensive search by the present writer has failed to uncover any trace of this individual.

⁸² Von Rohr, op. cit., note 4, 43.

⁸³ Loc. cit., note 26.

⁸⁴ Court, T. H. and Rohr, M. von, ‘Contributions to the history of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers’, Trans. Optical Soc. XXXI (1929–1930), 53–4.Google Scholar

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⁸⁸ Kühn and Roos, op. cit., 13.

⁸⁹ Gras, op. cit., 560, 562, 563, 570, 575, 580.

⁹⁰ J. Palsgrave, Léclaircissement de la langue française… (1530).

⁹¹ Champness, op. cit., p. 11.

⁹² The surface was viewed under a binocular microscope (Beck Binomax 12550) at low magnification (× 100) and compared against cut and polished samples of animal bone and ivories (elephant, walrus and narwhal) in the collections of the British Museum (Natural History).

⁹³ Nutrient foramina are diagnostic of animal bone and are not found in elephant ivory (see Penniman, T. K., Pictures of Ivory and Other Animal Teeth, Bone and Antler (Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, Occasional Paper on Technology V, 1953, p. 31).Google Scholar

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⁹⁵ This is well known: see Hammond, J., Farm Animals: their Breeding, Growth and Inheritance (London, 1940), p. 85.Google Scholar