Shakespeare uses the word “spectacles” 8 times across his works, and talks about glass eyes in King Lear. In A Winter’s Tale Leontes is talking with Camillo when he indicates Camillo should have seen something clearly because of the thickness of his eye glass. It makes sense to think that people in the 16-17th century would have suffered from near sighted ness or farsighted ness and other opthamlogic disorders, but what does the historical record show about how these sight related issues were dealt with in Shakespeare’s lifetime? Were there glasses that people wore on their face, and if so, who was making them, and out of what? To help us explore the history of eye glasses, spectacles, and the science of improving your vision forShakespeare’s lifetime, we are talking today with Dr. Neil Handley who is not only a historian of eye ware specifically, but serves as Curator of the British Optical Association Museum at theCollege of Optometrists in London.
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The Wadlow Portrait of Shakespeare
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Real 17thC Canon Law in Measure for Measure
The Arrival of the Exclamation Point During Shakespeare's Lifetime
The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England
A Fight Director Takes on Queen Margaret
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The Establishment of Fort Raleigh in 1587
New Discoveries about the First Folio
Farthingales & Poofy Shorts: The World of 16th Century Underpants
What was it like to be handicapped or disabled in 16th Century England?
What It Means to Take a 17thC Covenant in Scotland
Huguenots arrive in England during Shakespeare's Lifetime
Finding a Lost Aldrovandi Portrait from the 1590s
Tomatoes Make a Splash in Shakespeare's England
Atlantic Slave Trade in England for the 16th Century
Blackfriars, the Parish, The Puritans, and The Theater
Card Games That Were Popular for Shakespeare
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