These glasses were made for the British actor-manager Henry Irving (1838-1905). Known as his 'invisible glasses', he wore them on stage as Mephistopheles in W.G.Wills's play Faust at the Lyceum Theatre in December 1885. They are extremely light and the small lenses would have flashed in the stage lights, producing the diabolic effect which Irving wanted for Mephistopheles's eyes. Faust was one of the most spectacular productions Irving ever attempted, with stage creations of angelic visions, heavenward ascents, descents into the inferno, magical appearances, trap-door vanishings, an understage generation of steam, and even the use of electrical effects.

Irving was very short-sighted and usually wore glasses or pince-nez until the moment he stepped on stage. In his biography of his grandfather, Laurence Irving notes that a man would stand by in the wings whenever Irving had an entrance to ensure that he removed his glasses which he hid in his costume. A contemporary engraving of Irving in costume as Hamlet by Arthur Bryan shows his pince-nez suspended from a black velvet ribbon.