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Optical navigational and mapping instruments made and sold
John Smith Servant to his late Majesty,...
Makes and Sells, all Sorts of Telescopes, Microscopes, Spectacles, Thermometers, Barometers, Prospective, Optick and Reading-Glasses, and also all manner of Optical Instruments according to y.e best and latest Improvements.
London,
at the Archimedes in Ludgate Street,
[after 1727].
Engraved trade card.
(sheet) 185 by 160mm. (7.25 by 6.25 inches); 130 by 110mm (5.25 by 4.25 inches).
17847
notes:
John Smith succeeded to the optical instrument business of his better known father-in-law, John Marshall, at his premises in Ludgate Street, in 1723. Marshall had upheld a long-running feud with his neighbour in Ludgate Hill, John Yarwell, as to who invented a new method of grinding lenses in batches. Smith retained his father-in-law's use of the Royal Coat-of-Arms, although not the warrant, and his shop sign. However, he seems to have expanded the business to include a num...
bibliography:
Bryden and Simms, 'Archimedes as an Advertising Symbol', 1993.
provenance:
