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A Survey of the Networks Bringing a Knowledge of Optical Glass-Working to the London Trade, 1500-1800

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A Survey of the Networks Bringing a Knowledge of Optical Glass-Working to the London Trade, 1500-1800 A SURVEY OF THE NETWORKS BRINGING A KNOWLEDGE OF OPTICAL GLASS-WORKING TO THE LONDON TRADE, 1500-1800 Anita McConnell Edited by Jenny Bulstrode Figure 1: 'Venetia', by the Italian designer, engraver and dealer in books and prints Giacomo Franco, 1597. The hand-coloured engraving shows Venice with the island of Murano top centre right. Murano hosted the origin of European glass-working in an attempt to sequester and monopolise the valuable skills of the Levant glass-makers implanted there. The engraving highlights the containment of the islands state. Nonetheless, it was from here that skilled knowledge of glass-working moved with people through Europe and to the London trade. Giacomo Franco, Venetia, 1597, Peacay, bibliodyssey.blogspot.co.uk, CC BY 2.0. Ó Anita McConnell 2016 Ó Jenny Bulstrode 2016 Ó Liba Taub 2016 Published by the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, 2016 ISBN-13: 978-0-906271-28-5 ISBN-10: 0-906271-28-2 The Whipple Museum of the History of Science has used its best endeavours to secure the permissions necessary to reproduce the illustrations in this work. If any omissions are brought to our notice, we will be happy to include appropriate acknowledgments in any reissue of the book. i Contents Foreword — iii Preface and acknowledgements — v Figures and tables — vii Abbreviations — x A vocabulary of glass and glass-working materials — xiii Editor’s introduction — 1 Chapter One: The implantation and transmission of European glass- working knowledge — 5 Venetian manufacture of cristallo glass — 5 Migration from Venice — 7 Publication of Neri’s Arte vitraria — 12 The glass furnace — 14 Chapter Two: The London glass-houses producing optical-quality glass — 22 Jean Carré and Jacob Verzelini — 22 Sir Robert Mansell’s monopoly — 26 George Ravenscroft and the invention of lead crystal — 30 The London crystal glass-houses — 33 Shortages and inconsistency in the eighteenthcentury — 35 Chapter Three: Spectacles, telescopes and microscopes — 38 The arrival of spectacles in England — 39 Publication of William Bourne’s treatise — 40 Publication of Giovanbattista’s Magia naturalis — 41 From lens to spy-glass — 44 The astronomer’s telescope — 47 The microscope — 51 Professional optical instrument makers — 55 ii Chapter Four: European networks and the first telescopes in England — 58 Telescopes in France — 58 Trading between Italy, the Low Countries and England — 63 The emergence of a London workshop — 66 The craftsmen are joined by mathematicians — 70 Chapter Five: The practice of lens-making and its theoreticians — 76 Isaac Beekman’s technique — 76 The supply of optical-quality glass — 80 The Italian optical workshops: Divini and Campani — 85 The Campani workshop equipment — 87 Non-professional lens-makers — 88 Optical theories — 92 Publications on machine tools for shaping the basins and formers — 93 Descartes and the hyperbolic lens — 99 Chapter Six: The networks of correspondence — 106 Marin Mersenne — 107 Samuel Hartlib — 110 Henry Oldenburg — 112 Chapter Seven: The London trade — 115 Richard Reeve — 116 Christopher Cock — 121 Bayley and the virtuosi — 122 John Yarwell — 124 Advertising and the telescope market — 128 Handing down craft skills — 132 John and Peter Dollond — 135 Chapter Eight: The achromatic lens in Europe — 136 The achromatic lens in London — 137 The achromatic lens in Europe — 141 Scientific investigations into problems of flint-glass manufacture — 146 Chapter Nine: The advancement of skills — 152 Movement of craftsmen — 152 Movement of knowledge — 153 Movement of technology — 154 Index of names — 156 iii Foreword In October 2013, Simon Schaffer and I received the following email from our friend and colleague Anita McConnell: many years ago Gerry Martin gave me some money to investigate how the technology of glass working for optical purposes reached Britain, 1600- 1800. This was done [in 1997] and Gerry read it, apparently with pleasure, but nothing more was done prior to his death. Subsequently, a paper copy was lodged in the Institute of Historical Research where it was seen by those who knew of its existence (such as Inge Keil), and I made some revisions... Years then passed… and I still hope that the monograph could see the e-light of day somewhere. Simon responded: ‘This is of course a first rate account of glass technique, with no equivalent research-based text in English, and if there were any way of making it more accessible, that would be very welcome indeed. I would also hope that there might be a facility for linking this text with its related images.’ It was therefore decided to organise a way to bring Anita’s ‘Glass Monograph’ (as we fondly refer to the project) to e-daylight, by publishing it as a pdf freely available on the website of the Whipple Museum of the History of Science (www.cam.ac.uk/whipple). The Whipple Museum is immensely proud to sponsor the publication of this outstanding work of scholarship on the history of optical glass-making and - working, and to be able to share it freely with all who are interested in the subject. Furthermore, we are delighted by the opportunity to provide illustrations for this volume of various objects in our collection as well as from the numerous publications referred to in Anita’s text and held in the Whipple Library’s rare book collection. In order to bring the project to daylight it was necessary to do some additional work, not least to source the ‘related images’ and provide their captions. Jenny Bulstrode, currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, and Joshua Nall, Curator of Modern Sciences at the Whipple Museum, generously agreed to do the necessary work, with Jenny kindly taking on the role of editor. Steve Kruse, another Whipple Museum staff member, and Anna Jones, Whipple Librarian, also contributed expertise and time to the project. Toby Bryant, another doctoral student in HPS, compiled the Index. The resulting publication of Anita’s ‘Glass Monograph’ has been a collaborative project; first begun in 1997, we are very pleased to now be able to share it widely in this modern format. iv This project also represents a labour of love: love of the study of scientific instruments, and love for Anita herself. Anita was a great friend to the Whipple Museum, giving support over many years for student interns to work on the collection, donating numerous books from her own collection, and above all contributing her time and vast knowledge whenever it was needed. Through her, we learned a great deal. Prior to her death, we showed her the ‘almost ready’ version of this work. Now that she is gone, we are honoured to share this ‘Glass Monograph’ as a memorial to her scholarship and her friendship. Liba Taub Director and Curator Whipple Museum of the History of Science October 2016 v Preface and acknowledgements This investigation of the networks that brought knowledge of optical glass working into the London workshops between 1500 and 1800 was undertaken at the request of Gerry Martin (1930–2004), of the Renaissance Trust. Early in his life Gerry became fascinated in the way things were made and took up an apprenticeship with an engineering firm. After some months in Chicago he returned to England and began a long association with a company making temperature control systems. Under Gerry’s management the firm prospered, and set up branch companies around the world. This financial success provided the money to found the Renaissance Trust in 1968. Through the Trust Gerry pursued his interests in the transmission of technical knowledge. Between 1990 and 1995 he set up The Achievement Project, holding annual symposia to look at aspects of achievement and creativity, recruiting contributors from Europe and the United States who were working in allied fields. From this developed ‘The Growth of a Skilled Workforce’ project. Fascinated by scientific instruments, Gerry built up his own collection and supported museums of science. In addition, he provided funding for several students and academics, including my own history of the scientific instrument firm Cooke, Troughton & Simms (1992). Gerry was intrigued by how the knowledge of glass working of lenses for optical instruments, namely spectacles, telescopes and microscopes, in the period 1500 to 1800 had been transmitted across Western Europe to London, and in 1995 asked me to investigate. My researches yielded material of such diverse nature and quality that the first problem was to find a way of structuring it. To Gerry I owe the present format of a series of thematic chapters. There are three elements to any lens, whatever its size and type: the material, usually but not inevitably glass; an understanding of the curvature needed to fulfill the purpose of the lens; and the tools to shape and polish the material accordingly. These three skills, broadly chemical, mathematical and technical, originated in different places and travelled in different ways. The knowledge of fine glass making was carried by the migrations of the glass-makers themselves. Its implantation abroad was delayed by their reluctance to pass on trade secrets. Beyond a basic rule of thumb, mathematics was needed to calculate refraction and determine how best to shape and combine lenses for the desired effect. For this reason, mathematically-minded virtuosi had to collaborate with the lens grinders. The machinery which speeded up lens grinding, and which was devised in pursuit of the non-spherical lens, could not easily be transported from place to place. vi However, it could and was described and illustrated, and books dealing with this subject multiplied in the later seventeenth century. Significantly for the movement of glass-making knowledge, the mobilization of these elements required a customer with sufficient money. The major advances in lens grinding took place during those periods of strong demand underpinned with the necessary funds.
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