The Asbury Bible and Asbury’s Glasses

The massive Bible in this case was donated to St. George’s by Francis Asbury in 1771. While it would have been too large and unwieldy for traveling missionary work, Asbury would likely have used it for services here at St. George’s. The bibles in the case to the right would be more typical for missions.

These glasses, also belonging to Francis Asbury, were typical of 18th-century eyewear. While eyeglasses as we know them were invented in Italy during the late 13th century, sided frames were first designed in the early 18th century. Glasses like these were typically made from iron until the mid-1800s, when the Bessemer process made steel easier to produce. Therefore, they were typically handmade and unavailable to the working classes. James Ayscough, an English optician who had made a name for himself making microscopes, developed blue and green-tinted lenses in the 1750s as he believed that the colors helped correct certain vision problems. While protection from the sun was not his concern, these tinted lenses were the precursor to modern-day sunglasses.