The Pirotechnia of Vannoccio Biringuccio

Abstract

IT is generally acknowledged that the standard medieval work on mining and metallurgy is Agricola's “De Re Metallica”, first published in 1556, at Basle. This handsome folio volume, beautifully printed and produced by the famous house of Froben, with a wealth of artistic and informative woodcuts, forms a noble ornament to any library, quite apart from its scientific value. In his preface to the work, dated 1550, Agricola wrote : “Recently Vannucci Biringuceio, of Sienna, a wise man experienced in many matters, wrote in vernacular Italian on the subject of the melting, separating, and alloying of metals ... by reading his directions, I have refreshed my memory of those things which I myself saw in Italy”. This is a reference to “De La Pirotechnia”, written by Vannoccio Biringuccio and first published in 1540, at Venice. In reality, Agricola's indebtedness to the earlier work was very considerable, seeing that he drew from it the gist of his descriptions of the distillation of mercury and sulphur, the manufacture of glass and steel, and the crystallization of saltpetre, alum, salt, etc.

The Pirotechnia of Vannoccio Biringuccio

Translated from the Italian, with an Introduction and Notes, by Cyril Stanley Smith and Martha Teach Gnudi. (Publication sponsored by the Seeley W. Mudd Memorial Fund.) Pp. xxvi + 476. (New York : American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, 1942.) 5 dollars.