De la pirotechnia : libri .x. dove ampiamente si tratta non solo di ogni sorte & diuersita di miniere, ma anchora quanto si ricerca intorno à la prattica di quelle cose di quel che si appartiene à l'arte de la fusione ouer gitto de metalli come d'ogni altra cosa simile à questa / composti per il s. Vanoccio Biringuccio Sennese. Con priuilegio apostolico & de la Cesarea Maesta & del illustriss. Senato veneto.

Title: 
De la pirotechnia : libri .x. dove ampiamente si tratta non solo di ogni sorte & diuersita di miniere, ma anchora quanto si ricerca intorno à la prattica di quelle cose di quel che si appartiene à l'arte de la fusione ouer gitto de metalli come d'ogni altra cosa simile à questa / composti per il s. Vanoccio Biringuccio Sennese. Con priuilegio apostolico & de la Cesarea Maesta & del illustriss. Senato veneto.

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Author/Artist: 
Biringucci, Vannoccio, 1480-1539?
Publisher: 
[Veneto], 1540.
Description: 
[8], 168 [i.e. 16, 336] p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Format of Material: 
Books
Microform
Subjects: 
Mineral industries Early works to 1800.
Metallurgy Early works to 1800.
Metal-work.
Glass manufacture Early works to 1800.
Glass blowing and working Early works to 1800.
Bib ID: 
93699
Find this in the library
Location: 
Secured Stacks - Rare Books
Call Number: 
TN144.B61 1540 *
Location: 
Microforms
Call Number: 
F-3296
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More Info

Variant Title: 
Pirotechnia
Notes: 
Colophon: Stampata in Venetia per Venturino Roffinello. Ad instantia di Curtio Nauo. & fratelli. Del M. CCCCC. XL.
Signatures: *⁸, A-X⁸ (last leaf blank).
Title within ornamental border; initials.
On verso of t.-p.: Dedication "al molto magnifico m. Bernardino di Moncelesi da Salo, Cvrtio Navo"; followed by publisher's device (rampant lion in center with springing lion on top of shield held by "Scipion" and "Fabio") below which is lettered "per Cvrtio Navò et fratelli. Al Segno del lion."
First edition.
Label copy from the 1950s: Glass made at Murano. In one of the earliest practical works to cover the whole field of metallurgy, the Italian master craftsman, Biringuccio devotes chapter 14 to glass and glassmaking. Writing from his own experiences and observations, Biringuccio states: "The best glasswork that is made in our time and that which is of greater beauty, more varied coloring, and more admirable skill than that of any other place is made at Murano. In addition to coloring them all possible tints, they also make them very clear and transparent like true and natural crystal, and ornament them with paintings and other very fine enamels. Thus it seems to me that all the metals must give way to glass in beauty." Although nine editions of Pirotechnia appeared between 1540 and 1678, only in the first edition can the wood-cut illustrations, praised for their clarity and exactness, be fully appreciated. It is bound in vellum.
Sent to photography November 2012 (photography no. 1000030107).
Plate depicting a glass furnace published as plate 6 in v. 2 of Il vetro di Murano, by Julia Simonetto.
Image of plate of men working at a furnace Displayed in the exhibition titled "The Science of Glassmaking : 8 Centuries of a Magical Art", held at the Rakow Research Library, June 27, 2008-January 4, 2009.
A few notations written in an old hand in the margins.
Del cristallo et in generale di tvtte gioie piv note (Rock crystal, gems and other glasses): p. 38 verso-41; Del vetro et in generale de glialtri mezzi minerali (Glass and other semiminerals): p. 41-44.
Book 2, chapter 14 describes the process of making glass, the purification and re-melting of glass frit, the structure of the furnace, the preparation of the pots, and the method of glass blowing.