Lippershey was the first to try patent the design of a telescope and make it available for wide use. However, telescopes had been around long before Lippershey, and no one knows the person or people who really invented it. Many historical texts give Lippershey credit for the invention since he was the first to produce detailed plans. However, as the history given below states, he was almost certainly not the first to make a telescope. 

The History of the Telescope and Binoculars

Why does this reference say that Lippershey’s telescope was almost certainly not the first?  Colin Ronan, a historian of science, claimed that Leonard Digges produced a telescope as a military invention some 30 years prior to Lippershey. This was based on a book on military inventions that was written in 1578 by William Bourne. According to that book, however, this was not the first telescope. The book stated that Digges actually received the idea from another inventor.