Francis Watkins was an eminent figure in his field of mathematical and optical instrument making in mid-eighteenth century London. Working from original documents, Brian Gee has uncovered the life and times of this optical instrument maker. Recipient of the Paul Bunge Prize 2015, awarded for outstanding research in the study of scientific instruments by the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh) and the Deutschen Bunsen-Gesellschaft Physikalische Chemie (DBG). '... impressive and engaging ... this book is an impressively readable and useful source on the subjects which it addresses.' Journal for the History of Astronomy 'The book's editors, Anita McConnell and Alison Morrison-Low, should be commended for their hard work in making this a comprehensible and valuable addition to the scholarly analysis of a crucial period in the history of invention, as should the Scientific Instrument Society for facilitating the publication.' Richard Dunn, Royal Museums Greenwich