A FRENCH 2-INCH RELFECTING TELESCOPE

Claude-Siméon Passement, engineer to the King, was the first French optician to make reflecting telescopes. The present tube and stand are based on his design of 1738, and were almost certainly made by him, or by his workshop. The lasting status of this telescope is exemplified by the luxury baleen binding, almost a century later, in London, making this a rare and fascinating example of the social use of the telescope.