Daniel BellingradtOct 27
Nothing to see here? Well, this is a slow moving 🧵 for #skystorians and others about #eyeglasses of the past, about how to read in the past, where to buy eyeglasses, and how to do with them in general. The hashtag is #HowToDoWithGlassesInThePast Let's roll.
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
First things first. This was once an idea I posted in parts already on a platform called Twitter and on Mastodon. This one is new, and for the blue skies. So enjoy.
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
The image I chose for the start is a detail of the "Glasses Apostle" painting in the altarpiece of the church of Bad Wildungen, Germany. Painted by Conrad von Soest in 1403, the painting is considered to be among the oldest depictions of eyeglasses north of the Alps. What a cool reader, right?
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
Wearing eyeglasses was a tricky thing, as something on your nose attracts attention. Eyeglasses were made for reading and seeing better but also had a distinctive function of making you, the one wearing eyeglasses, a bit more special. Francisco de Quevedo knew all this. #HowToDoWithGlassesInThePast
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
Traces and images of #earlymodern eyeglasses can be found in paintings, books, prints, and this reminds us of the presence of these artifacts in cultural life. And the present eyeglasses were sometimes forgotten in books, even if both were painted like in this image. #HowToDoWithGlassesInThePast
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
You might have been needing eyeglasses for reading purposes for a long time, but before you needed to find a seller offering the assisting tool. The young woman in this painting is selling eyeglasses by the dozens as a zooming in into the details of the painting shows. #HowToDoWithGlassesInThePast
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
Like today, not everyone needed eyeglasses to read. Some read in the dark, like here, without problems: bsky.app/profile/dbel...

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wwym6cglvbd5odxfkykn2uh2/post/3m3s4qb7dlc26
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
And some were constantly looking for their eyeglasses, couldn't find them, and even suspected the owl to use it... bsky.app/profile/dbel...

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wwym6cglvbd5odxfkykn2uh2/post/3l6i3ljvugx22
Show threadDaniel Bellingradt
However, mostly, eyeglasses were stored near books, near papers, near manuscripts, waiting to get used, like here: bsky.app/profile/dbel...

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wwym6cglvbd5odxfkykn2uh2/post/3lbtk74ao2k2u
Oct 27 at 12:57pmWeb
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
And there were young ones with good sight that didn't need eyeglasses at all to read and reread all those letters of the period... like here: bsky.app/profile/dbel...

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wwym6cglvbd5odxfkykn2uh2/post/3l5midvn5i52j
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
But the older ones needed eyeglasses, more and more often, and when the candle light assisted the own desk work, one was happy to have eyeglasses around, like here: bsky.app/profile/dbel...

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wwym6cglvbd5odxfkykn2uh2/post/3li4oa6sqdc2m
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
And because the demand for eyeglasses was growing during the period (hello #literacy), you were able to buy them in shops, and also from mobile sellers. Like here:
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
In fact, eyeglasses became a moved good that was sold along to the new reading habits and book usages of the period. More books in all variations meant also: more markets for selling eyeglasses. #BookHistory and the growing usages of eyeglasses from 1400 onward are a connected history!
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
Let's focus upon storing eyeglasses in a premodern context. As a wealthy reader and owner of books you could always go for the luxury option: use your custom-made case carved out of the back board of a big book to store your reading tool. Impressive, am I right? #HowToDoWithGlassesInThePast
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
Some also chose to protect the eyeglasses in a wooden case, for traveling maybe? Well, and apparently, at least someone in the sixteenth-century fancied fish-skin leather for her or his glasses as well.
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
You could use your eyeglasses to, well, to look wild, stylish, in contemplation, at work, out of context ... Choose your fighter: #HowToDoWithGlassesInThePast
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
*staring* at you, reader. Are you still following this thread? There is more, and there will be more eyeglasses - soon.
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
Eyeglasses were needed for reading, drawing and writing purposes, and they were part of a material story of these practices. It is not by chance that Saint Jerome, patron Saint of librarians, is often sitting at a writing desk surrounded by books and papers, with eyeglasses hanging at his desk.
Show threadDaniel BellingradtOct 27
The history of reading had a chapter about forgetting eyeglasses in books, and about historians and librarians finding traces of these lost eyeglasses. Well, the image tells quite a story, doesn't it? #HowToDoWithGlassesInThePast