Trade card: Thomas Ribright, Poultry, London. (Calv. 316)

Thomas Ribright was an English optician working in London from 1735 to the early 1760s. The trade card shows the items that he made including spectacles, microscopes and telescopes. It was not unusual for opticians to make instruments such as microscopes as these required highly ground lenses, a skill that spectacle makers had acquired and developed in the course of their day to day work. Ribright was the optician to one of the members of the Royal family, an indication of the high quality of his workmanship.

This card dates from the period 1749-51 between his appointment to Prince George (the eldest grandson of George II, and future George III) and George's elevation to Prince of Wales on his father Frederick's death. Ribright then reworked his text and image to reflect his patron's elevation in a second version of this card design.