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Edmund Culpeper was an English instrument maker in the late 17th century. Although having made simple microscopes before, his personal design included a compound microscope with a tripod stand. The tool was so popular that it continued to be manufactured for the next century.

Pictured is an achromatic microscope manufactured by Andrew Pritchard, an optician and instrument maker of the mid-1800s.

Joseph Jackson Lister, Lord Lister’s father, was a wine merchant with an interest in the study of optics. His creation of a more accurate achromatic lens allowed for higher resolution viewing, and earned himself a fellowship in the Royal Society. Achromatic lenses focus light of different wavelengths in the same plane, hence producing a sharper microscopic image. This development in microscopic technology was truly revolutionary.

Simple pocket microscope with five lenses and metal-mounted slide.

Probably an E. Leitz brass monocular microscope, focusing by rack and pinion; the box is by a different manufacturer, Millikin and Lawley, possibly suppliers of the microscope; one part of the microscope is by a different manufacturer, Bulloch of Chicago.

Inscription: E. Leitz; Wetzlar; No. 83091; BULLOCH Water immersion CHICAGO; MILLIKIN & LAWLEY 165 STRAND LONDON W.O.C.

Microscope with slides of specimens, in wooden box.

c. 1800s

Simple pocket microscope with five lenses and metal-mounted slide.

Microscope by R&J Beck of London in wooden box with several accessories.

Richard and Joseph Beck were the nephews of Joseph Jackson Lister, an opticist and physicist, and the father of Sir Joseph Lister.