Spectacles and the Victorians
Measuring, Defining and Shaping Visual Capacity
Seiten
2026
Manchester University Press (Verlag)
978-1-5261-9485-5 (ISBN)
Manchester University Press (Verlag)
978-1-5261-9485-5 (ISBN)
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This book explores how the Victorians standardised vision and transformed spectacle use. It offers new insights into how technology and its adoption in medical and non-medical contexts shaped, and continues to shape, our understanding of sensory perception and the assimilation of assistive devices. -- .
This is the first full-length study of spectacles in the Victorian period. It examines how the Victorians shaped our understanding of functional visual capacity and the concept of 20:20 vision. Demonstrating how this unique assistive device can connect the histories of medicine, technology and disability, it charts how technology has influenced our understanding of sensory perception, both through the diagnostic methods used to measure visual impairment and the utility of spectacles to ameliorate its effects. Taking a material culture approach, the book assesses how the design of spectacles thwarted ophthalmologists’ attempts to medicalise their distribution and use, as well as creating a mainstream marketable device on the high street. -- .
This is the first full-length study of spectacles in the Victorian period. It examines how the Victorians shaped our understanding of functional visual capacity and the concept of 20:20 vision. Demonstrating how this unique assistive device can connect the histories of medicine, technology and disability, it charts how technology has influenced our understanding of sensory perception, both through the diagnostic methods used to measure visual impairment and the utility of spectacles to ameliorate its effects. Taking a material culture approach, the book assesses how the design of spectacles thwarted ophthalmologists’ attempts to medicalise their distribution and use, as well as creating a mainstream marketable device on the high street. -- .
Gemma Almond-Brown is an Honorary Research Fellow at Swansea University and Research Development Officer at National Museum Wales -- .
Introducing Victorian spectacle wear
1 Early Victorian understandings of vision and spectacles, 1830–50
2 The ‘normal eye’ as seen through technology: a quest for medical control, 1850–1904
3 Challenging (ab)normalcy: expansion in manufacture, design, and access, 1851–1904
4 The limits of professionalism: medical practitioners, opticians and popular responses to sight loss, 1880–1904
5 Fashioning the eye and seeing, 1830–1904
Conclusion
Index -- .
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 20.1.2026 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Social Histories of Medicine |
| Zusatzinfo | 12 black & white illustrations |
| Verlagsort | Manchester |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 140 x 216 mm |
| Gewicht | 349 g |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte |
| Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte | |
| Studium ► Querschnittsbereiche ► Geschichte / Ethik der Medizin | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-5261-9485-6 / 1526194856 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-5261-9485-5 / 9781526194855 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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