concept

An old man trying on spectacles at a street vendor's optical shop. Woodcut by J. Amman, 1568.

Optics: a simple microscope. Coloured engraving by J. Pass, 1820.

Optics: lens grinders at work (top) and stages in grinding a lens with the tools used (below). Engraving by Benard after Lucotte.

Optics: glass tubes (right) and Leeuwenhoek's first microscope (left) Photograph.

Optics: diagrams of reflection and refraction of light. Coloured engraving by R. & E. Williamson, 1820.

Optics: microscopy, including a magnified title page and a specimen holder. Engraving by Barlow.

Women grind glass lenses while two customers try spectacles on. Coloured line engraving, 1799.

Optics: lens grinding tools and different products with lenses. Engraving by Benard after J.R. Lucotte.

An allegorical monument to Sir Isaac Newton and his theories on prisms. Line engraving by L. Desplaces after D. M. Fratta after G.B. Pittoni, D. Valeriani and G. Valeriani.

Refraction and how to refract : including sections on optics, retinoscopy, the fitting of spectacles and eyeglasses, etc. / by James Thorrington.

Ophthalmo-optical manual / by William Swaine.

Optics: a simple microscope. Engraving.

Optics: three kinds of simple microscope. Engraving.

Die Stokes'sche Linse mit constanter Axe / von H. Snellen.

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Refraction and how to refract : including sections on optics, retinoscopy, the fitting of spectacles and eyeglasses, etc. / by James Thorrington.

Ophthalmo-optical manual / by William Swaine.

Optics: a simple microscope. Engraving.

Optics: three kinds of simple microscope. Engraving.

Die Stokes'sche Linse mit constanter Axe / von H. Snellen.