[MR] eyeglasses / Re: Atlantia Digest, Vol 81, Issue 51

[Nancy Hulan]

> Now if I could only just relocate the picture I saw of an early pope or
> cardinal seated next to a table holding a pair of bi-focals, I would be
> very happy. Take that, Ben Franklin.

I haven't done any research into this area, but The Evolution of the
Book (by Frederick Kilgour, Oxford UP, 1998) places the development of
eyeglasses for reading at the latter half of the 1280s. They became
popular enough that a Venetian guild of eyeglass makers was formed in
1320.

Best wishes,
Aneira

-- 
Mistress Gwerfyl verch Aneirin, known as Aneira
Kingdom Chronicler, Atlantia
A&S Projects: www.aneira.org