Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

Small telescope made by Abraham & Co. (second half of the 19th century)

A picture containing pipe

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A picture containing furniture, sofa, seat

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Small telescope engraved with ‘Abraham & Co., Opticians, Liverpool’. The instrument should be dated to the second half of the 19th century. Abraham stated an optician business in 1817. In 1838, he formed a partnership with Simon Phineas Cohen and opened a branch in Glasgow that lasted until 1843. In 1841, Abraham and John Benjamin Dancer opened together a shop in Manchester, known as ‘Abraham & Dancer’, that lasted until 1844 (with Dancer continuing the Manchester business under his own name). During both partnerships, Abraham continued trading in Liverpool as ‘A. Abraham’. Abraham formed a Liverpool-based partnership with Charles West and George Wood around 1849, known as ‘A. Abraham & Company”, and retired shortly afterward. The partnership ended in 1855, with Wood continuing the business and maintaining the ‘A. Abraham & Co.’ name until the late 1800s, later adopting the name of ‘Wood-Abraham’.