Career
He worked with Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke. Reeve"s "telescopes and microscopes had a worldwide reputation for accuracy. Hooke worked with him in a technical advisory capacity".
Richard Reeve, or Reeves, of Long Acre, was the foremost fashioner of optical instruments between 1641 and 1679, and "perspective-glass maker to the King".
He was James Gregory"s optician. In August 1664 Pepys purchased a microscope from him, "the best he knows in England, and he makes the best in the world." 5 pounds 10 shillings is "a great price," but Reeve throws in a Scotoscope, "and a curious curiosity it is to objects in a dark room with."
Reeve"s son, also an instrument maker was Richard Reeve jnr.
(fl 1680). "Young" Reeve, in Pepys" entry of 23 March 1659/60, would be Richard"s son John, who took over the family business in 1679 and ran it until c.