Sonia 072

The face à main, also called lorgnette, was invented during the 18th century. In spite of its practical disadvantage, it became quite popular in the 19th century, especially among ladies from the upper classes in society. They were usually used as a piece of jewelry, rather than to enhance vision. The famous French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt (b. 1844 - d. 1923) had several face à main which she never used in public. Vanity.... Her face à main are on display in the Pierre Marly Museum which was located in Paris but is now somewhere in the Jura. It turned out that the many entertaining stories about her legendary short sight were not fiction but reality. The Rx of the lenses in her face à main is minus ten. It makes one wonder how Sarah was able to function in public and on stage without any visual aid.
The pince-nez shown in the previous series was invented during the 1820's and its popularity reached its peak in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The pince-nez was mainly used by the upper middle classes in society. Steel glasses with straight arms were for the lower middle class people. The poor were unable to afford any visual aid, no matter how badly they needed it.
The contemporary Sonia was delighted when I handed her the pince-nez and the face à main. She only knew this antique eyewear from pictures and she enjoyed seeing them and touching them. Of course, the real surprise was that both pairs gave her good eyesight. It was a wonderful experience for both of us. Sonia took several pictures of the pince-nez and face à main, holding her camera in one hand and the antique eyewear in the other hand.
Enough lecturing.... high time to return to Sonia's great-great-grandmother and the avid journalists....