The book is the result of long research conducted by the author in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and England.The rarest examples from the nineteenth century production of optics are illustrated alongside more famous and popular examples. Descriptions accompany the images, allowing scholars, collectors, and enthusiasts of photography to identify the objects. The author is a psychiatrist. He teaches Clinical Psychology at the University of Florence. Focusing on the development of optics in the 19th century, he has been researching the history of photography for many years. A second book dedicated to the history of lenses in Germany and Austria as well as a third book on lenses in England is forthcoming. Perhaps in another life the author will write a book on the history of optics in the United States.