Illustrated catalogue of modern goods interesting to the Optician and Jeweller

Historical Significance: This is a photocopy of the original catalogue held by Michael Aitken. Arthur Cocks and Co Ltd was a large and successful wholesaler of goods for opticians and jewellers with branches in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Wellington NZ and Birmingham UK, It was founded in 1899 by Arthur Cocks (1862-1943). Arthur Cocks was its managing director until 1939. He had been employed in 1880 by Melbourne optical wholesaler W. Wood and Co as a commercial traveller. He was sent to Sydney in 1886 to establish a new branch of that company but in due course took financial control of the whole company before establishing his own eponymously named company. He became a councillor of the City of Sydney and served a term as Mayor of Sydney in 1913. He was elected to the State Legislative Assembly from 1910 to 1925. He was appointed Agent-General in London in 1925 and was knighted (KBE) in that year. This catalogue gives an excellent insight to spectacles and ophthalmic instruments of the time. Cocks was a member of the British Optical Association and the foundation Secretary of the Australasian Optical Association, founded in 1904. This was the first optometry association to be formed in Australia.