Minute Book of the States General of the Netherlands
Patent Application of Hans Lipperhey, 2 October 1608
Algemeen Rijksarchief, The Hague, Mss. Staten-Generaal, 33, f. 169r
Facsimile

Hans Lipperhey of Middelburg offered the Dutch government a "spyglass" that enlarged distant objects, for which he requested a thirty-year exclusive patent. He was generously recompensed, but the patent application was rejected.