The Pirotechnia of Vannoccio Biringuccio: The Classic Sixteenth-Century Treatise on Metals and Metallurgy [Paperback]

Vannoccio Biringuccio (Author), Cyril Stanley Smith (Translator), Martha Teach Gnudi (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1990

First clear work on metallurgy, published in 1540, describing in detail the equipment and processes of 16th-century mining, smelting and metalworking. This is the definitive English translation, with a historical introduction to the author — a Siennese metallurgist and armament maker. Illustrated with reproductions of 94 original woodcuts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 507 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (January 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486261344
• ISBN-13: 978-0486261348
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,347,402 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first metallurgy text, November 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Pirotechnia of Vannoccio Biringuccio: The Classic Sixteenth-Century Treatise on Metals and Metallurgy (Paperback)

This is not an easy book to read. It predates Agriccola's De Re Metallica by several years, and has not yet made the bridge of thought from alchemy into chemistry. As a result, the section on fireworks speaks of principles of air and such to explain how they work.

Additionally, many of the usages are different than we think of them today. For example, in the production of Aqua Fortis (nitric acid), one of the steps involves the use of red alum. After 10 years of research, I finally figured out that this referred to alunite, a mineral alum found in a certain mine in Italy which contained a high level of iron.

Given the difficulty in interpreting what is being said, it is still an invaluable book to researchers in the field. It contains valuable information about the thought and processes in use in Italian metallurgy in the 16th century.