Well I did the obvious thing and ran the query “spectacle maker” on querypic:
Querypic doesn’t differentiate between “spectacle maker” and “spectacle-maker” as a query, so we can say that graph shows usage of both forms of the term.
The interesting thing is that while spectacle makers were around before the 1860’s it is only in the 1860’s and 70’s that usage of the term peaks, perhaps due to the development of wire frames making spectacles simpler to manufacture.
However, while the term was clearly in use, graphing spectacle-maker, oculist and optician together shows that the term optician was the one in most use
and it is again interesting to note a sudden surge in the 1850’s, perhaps due again to advances in technology, coupled with increasing literacy producing increasing demand …