Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-03-13
HISTORY OF sPEcTAcLEs
Earliest Known Pair Was Made Before
Year 1900.

year loOO.
What were supposed to be the earli-
est known pair Of spectacles were
those belonging to Willibald Pirkhei-
mer in the Wartburg, recently found
by Greet, of Berlin. Greeff has describ-
ed a still earlier pair, however, prob
ably made before the year 1900, which
were brought to his attention by Sud.
hoff, Of Leipzig. These were found In
an old volume Of incunabula by the
we'll known antiquarian bookseller
Jacques Rosenthal, and were presented
by him to the Germanic National Mu-
scum, at Nuremberg, where they now
are to be seen in the section devoted
to costumes and personal ornamnts
The frame is of tanned blackened
leather Of obvious Nuremberg make
and, like the Pirkheimer spectacles, oi
the old traditional "nose-rider' shape
but they are clumsier and thicker thar
the Pirkheimer pattern Of 1520-1530
The lenses are lacking. In view OF
these characteristics and Of the fact
that they were found in an old fifteenth
century folio, Greeff and Sudhoff seem
to have no doubt that they were made
before 1900.
Greeff also traces the evolution OF
the true modern spectacles from the
old nose-riders (the originals Of the
pince- nez), and describes the binocles
which came into fashion in 1896, con-
sisting Of two lenses mounted on q
scissor shaped handle, the original OF
the modern lorgnette. The earliest
form Of the true spectacle glasses was
invented and introduced by M. Thorn
in, and were essentially temple spec
tacles," the shanks extending no furth-
er than the temples. There were two
kinds, one with a small end-platelet
which was represented in a portrait by
Pelham, an English painter Of lie
eighteenth century, Of which a copper
plate was made by j. Clark; the other
which Is to be seen in CRAFTS portrait
of Chodowiecki (1795), with charac-
teristic large circular fastener at the
end Of the shank, which held the spec
tacles against the temple. The next
stage was that Of the "ear spectacles," "
which at first had crude, heavy, clum-
sy shanks, jointed at the end, like those
in the Beethoven House, at Bonn
which were further improved by slit
ting the ends or by means Of an olive
shaped fastener. The next improve
ment, consisting Of jointed appendage
to the shank, was made in 1852 by the
London optician, ]. Ayscough. A later
variant Of this joint passed downward
and backward underneath the ear Still
another variety Of this joint was so ar
ranged that it could be bent back when
the glasses were not in use. These were
called extension spectacles. UP to the
beginning Of the eighteenth century the
lenses were still very large and round
but after that time they began to be
octagonal, square, rectangular and fl
nally oval. About the same time the
bridge began to change in shape, first
assuming the form Of X placed side
WISE
The origin Of the present fashion OF
large circular lenses set in delicate tor
toise-shel mounts is pastel portrait
of the painter Chardin in the Louvre
executed by himself in 1850, the spec
tacles in which were copied with great
success by recent French opticians and
are known in Paris as Chardin spec
tacles. The same type Is familiar to Us
in a we'll known portrait Of Benjamin
Franklin. Four or five years ago, says
Greeff, a young woman or lady Of fash
ion would have been horriied at the
notion of wearing spectacles Of such
an unsightly type. Today she would
regard it as not only chic, but the
height Of elegance. Plenty Of people in
America are inclined, no doubt to re-
vive the traditions Of "old Ben Frank
Inns days" for similar reasons. al
though the optical advantages and the
comfort Of these large lenses are obvi-
ous-American Medical Journal.