The History of Reading Glasses

Reading glasses are now standard fare for many who need a boost to see the printed page, computer screen or other small items. These accessories have become so popular and easy to make that they usually can be found on any drug store rack for as cheap as $2 per pair. That was not always the case; it took a lot of time and experimentation for them to develop into what they are today.

Need

• In the grand scheme of things, reading glasses do not have a very long history at all. They weren't even thought of or needed because most folks couldn't even read or write in the first place. They had no need to, so they weren't going out of their way to learn how.

Monks

• Monks, who were reading and writing longer than the average person, are credited with coming up with the first form of reading glasses in about 1000 A.D. They used pieces of transparent polished quartz, cut in half, that produced a magnifying effect. Monks' eyes would go bad as they got older, especially since they did a lot of their reading and writing while hunched over in darkened rooms.

Early Development

• As monks played around with the magnifying stones, they figured out the smaller stones would actually produce a more intense magnification than larger ones. They also discovered the quartz did not have to be cut exactly in half to produce a magnifying effect.

Magnifying Glass

• By the 1200s, Italian glassmakers took reading glasses to the next level. Two rounded, small magnifying glasses were hooked together by a hinge and held in front of the eyes. The hinge and frame of the magnifying lenses were usually made of wood, metal or copper wire.
  But people still had to hold the lenses manually up to their face. By the 1600s, some were attaching the lenses to their heads with ribbons looped behind their ears.

Frames

• The most basic reading glass frames hit the scene in the 1700s, featuring adjustable extensions at the temples that held the glasses on the face. The pince-nez, which means "nose pincher," came into play by the 1800s. These feature a small brace that perches the glasses atop the nose. More styles, colors and mass production of all types of frames followed by the mid-1900s, making a variety of reading glasses readily available and incredibly inexpensive.