The debut publication in a new series devoted to the body as an object of historical study, Sight Correction provides an expansive analysis of blindness in eighteenth-century Britain, developing a new methodology for conceptualizing sight impairment. Beginning with a reconsideration of the place of sight correction as both idea and reality in eighteenth-century philosophical debates, Chris Mounsey traces the development of eye surgery by pioneers such as William Read, Mary Cater, and John Taylor, who developed a new idea of medical specialism that has shaped contemporary practices. He then turns to accounts by the visually impaired themselves, exploring how Thomas Gills, John Maxwell, and Priscilla Pointon deployed literature strategically as a necessary response to the inadequacies of Poor Laws to support blind people. Situating blindness philosophically, medically, and economically in the eighteenth century, Sight Correction shows how the lives of both the blind and those who sought to treat them redefined blindness in ways that continue to inform our understanding today.
Table of Content
1. Philosophy, Sight, and Blindness
2. Blindness is Not a ‘Disability’: Before Compulsory Able-Bodiedness
3. Text as Theory: Understanding Sight and Blindness in the Eighteenth Century
4. Unofficial Eye Care: William Read and Mary Cater
5. Official Eye Care: William Cheselden and Peter Kennedy
6. A Profession of Couching: John ‘Chevalier’ Taylor
7. Free and Accessible Eye Care for All: John Taylor, Oculist of Hatton Garden
8. Thomas Gills of St. Edmunds-Bury and the Itinerant Giver
9. John Maxwell: The Beauty of Gardens
10. Priscilla Pointon Gets Married
About the author
Chris Mounsey is Professor of Eighteenth-Century Literature at the University of Winchester and the author of The Idea of Disability in the Eighteenth Century.
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