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Peregrine_Bjornaer
Peregrine_Bjornaer
Miscellaneous Historical Tidbits
Sep 1 2008, 4:13 PM EDT | Post edited: Sep 1 2008, 4:13 PM EDT
Mailing list I'm on had a thing about reading stones: (quoting herein)
Reading stones--hemispherical pieces of of beryl, glass, or quartz
that, when laid upon the page, magnify text and images--were in popular
use in Western Europe beginning some time between 1000 and 1250 C.E.
and at least until spectacles became widely available. They were
especially useful for near-sighted readers and for people who spent
long hours pouring over tiny script, and were often found in a scribe's
tool box. You can see three photos of reading stones on the Antique
Spectacles and Other Vision Aids site. One is of a reproduction in the
collection of the Zeiss Optical Museum
<http://www.antiquespectacles.com/history/reading_stone.htm>. The
source of the others
<http://www.antiquespectacles.com/statements/1600.htm> isn't specified.

The second link has a quote attributed to Roger Bacon on the subject to 1268...not too terribly long after our period, and it certainly stands to reason that these would be part of a magi's toolbox. 1  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?    
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ivanhartley
ivanhartley
1. RE: Miscellaneous Historical Tidbits
Sep 6 2008, 5:43 PM EDT | Post edited: Sep 6 2008, 5:43 PM EDT
Nice find! I was aware of the Aztecs using this type of device, and had just not thought about it being in use in Europe, and probably Asia as well. Do you find this valuable?