American Optical Company Spectacles Eyeglasses Lenses etc (product catalogue)
 Catalogue Number: 1174 American Optical Company Spectacles Eyeglasses Lenses etc (product catalogue) Category: Book Sub-Category: Product catalogue Corporation: American Optical Company Year Of Publication/Manufacture: Undated Early 20th C (1912?) Time Period: 1900 to 1939 Place Of Publication/Manufacture: Southbridge Massachusetts Publisher/Manufacturer: American Optical Company Description Of Item: Brown-grey cloth cover, 348 pages, numerous illustrations .Presentation label on front fly leaf reading 'This catalogue is presented to Mr J Garratt No 1347 with the compliments of American Optical Company 39 Hatton Gardens EC London England' Historical Significance: The American Optical Company was established in 1833 and incorporated in 1869. It was located in Southbridge Massachusetts USA to make lenses and spectacles and it quickly grew to be a very large company that also made ophthalmic and photographic equipment. It was, along with Bausch and Lomb, also in the USA, and Clement Clarke and Keeler in the UK, very influential in promoting innovation and the expansion of the scope of practice of optometry. Picture is of the AO complex in Southbridge in 1916. This is a general catalogue covering frames, mountings, trial sets, trial frames, automobile goggles, optical machinery and tools, eyeglass chains, eyeglass holders, spectacle cases. It begins with a copiously illustrated history of the American Optical Company from 1833 to 1912. This may date the catalogue at 1912. How Acquired: Donated by John Boxshall, Canning St Carlton, grandson of Mr J Garratt, an early Victorian optometrist. Date Acquired: 2009 Condition: Good Location: Nathan Library. Aitken collection |