Corrected entry: Not only does Quatermain sometimes need glasses to shoot and sometimes not, on the Nautilus he puts on the same pair of glasses to look at the Venice blueprints. There were no bifocals in 1899, and if they were bifocals, you would be able to tell.
Ioreth
8th Oct 2003
Correction: Bifocal glasses were invented in the mid 1700's. They were around more than long enough for Quartermain to have used them.