The first comprehensive work on metallurgy, The Pirotechnia was published in 1540. Lavishly illustrated, it describes the equipment and processes of sixteenth-century mining, smelting, and metalworking. For centuries, this famous work has been a standard reference; it is especially valuable as a source of information on the state of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century technology. 94 woodcuts.
Republication of the 1942 edition.

Table of Contents for The Pirotechnia of Vannoccio Biringuccio: The Classic Sixteenth-Century Treatise on Metals and Metallurgy

Book 1: Every Kind of Mineral, in General
1. The ore of gold
2. The ore of silver
3. The ore of copper
4. The ore of lead
5. The ore of tin
6. The ore of iron
7. The practice of making steel
8. The practice of making brass
Book 2: The Semiminerals
1. Quicksilver and its ore
2. Sulphur and its ore
3. Antimony and its ore
4. Marcasite and its quality
5. Vitriol and its ore
6. Rock alum and its ore
7. Arsenic, orpiment, and realgar
8. Common mineral salt and many other artificial salts
9. Calamine, zaffre, and manganese
10. The lodestone and some of its effects
11. Bole, ochre, [emery], and borax
12. Azure and green azure
13. Rock-crystal, gems, and other glasses
14. Glass and other semiminerals
Book 3: Assaying and Preparing Ores for Smelting
1. The method of assaying the ores of all metals in general, and in particular those containing silver and gold
2. The method of preparing ores before smelting
3. The common forms of blast furnaces and other furnaces for smelting ores
4. The method followed in smelting ores
5. The method by which lead, silver, and gold are separated from copper when they are all in one mass resulting from the smelting of ores or otherwise
6. The method of refining silver on the cupel, the arrangement of weights, and the method of finishing the assay of gold and silver more skillfully
7. The method of making cupeling hearths for refining silver in quantity
8. The method of refining matte and converting it into fine copper
9. The method of smelting litharge and reducing it to pure lead
10. The properties of charcoal and the different kinds of it
Book 4: The Separation of Gold from Silver
1. The method of making the common acid for parting gold from silver
2. The method of assaying silver containing a quantity of gold
3. The proper method and procedure in parting gold perfectly from silver in quantity, by means of acid
4. The method of retrieving silver and good acid from the precipitates from acids
5. Precautions that must be observed in parting gold from silver with acids
6. The method of parting gold from silver by means of sulphur or antimony
7. The method of cementing gold and bringing it to its ultimate fineness
Book 5: The Alloys That are Formed Between Metals
1. The alloy of gold
2. The alloy of silver with copper
3. The alloy of copper
4. The alloys of lead and of tin; their purity and fineness
Book 6: The Art of Casting in General and Particular
1. The quality of the clay for making moulds for bronze founding
2. The arrangement and methods of making the moulds for bronze founding, in ge
3. The differences in guns and their sizes
4. The arrangements and various ways that are used for making moulds for statues to be cast in bronze
5. The arrangements and methods for making gun moulds
6. How the cores are made for gun moulds
7. Methods of making the third part of the mould, called the breech
8. The method of making the disc for holding the core
8a. The method of supporting the core in the mould at the foot of the gun
9. Gates and vents for moulds, in general
10. The baking of moulds for casting in bronze, in general
11. Necessary advice and precautions in making guns
12. Methods of making the moulds for bells of all sizes, and their dimensions
13. The rule for proportioning the weight of the clapper to the size [of the bell]
14. The ways of hanging bells
15. The method of welding [cracked] bells
Book 7: Methods of Melting Metals
1. The method of making reverberatory furnaces for melting metals by the flames of wood
2. The method of melting metals in the hearth
3. The method of melting in ladles with charcoal and bellows
3a. The method of melting metals in crucibles
4. The method of melting in a wind furnace
5. The melting of bronzes and other metals, in general
6. The bronzes and alloyed metals for casting, in general
7. The methods of arranging various devices for moving the bellows for urging melting fires
8. Finishing guns, and the arrangement of gun carriages
9. Methods of casting iron for making balls for shooting with guns
Book 8: The Small Art of Casting
1. Various methods of making powders for casting, which will receive and withstand bronze well
2. The method of preparing the salt for making the magistery for moulding powders
3. The methods of moulding in frames and boxes in the small art
4. The manner of making the powders for casting in green sand, and the method of moulding
5. The various methods of moulding reliefs
6. Note on some materials that have the property of making metals melt easily and run into every corner of the mould
Book 9: The Procedure of Various Works of Fire
1. The art of alchemy in general
2. The art of distilling oils and waters, and on sublimations
3. Necessary discourse and advice on working a mint
4. The art of the goldsmith
5. The art of the coppersmith
6. The art of the smith who works in iron
7. The art of the pewterer
8. The manner of drawing out gold, silver, copper, and brass by beating, and making wire
9. [The method of preparing gold for spinning]
10. The method of removing gold from silver and any other gilded object
11. The method of extracting every particle of gold and silver from slags of ores
12. The procedure in making mirrors cast in bell metal
13. The method of making shells or crucibles for me
14. Discourse on the potter's art
15. Concerning lime and bricks
Book 10: On Certain Artificial Combustible Materials, and the Procedures Followed in Making Fireworks to be Used in Warfare and for Festivals
1. Saltpeter and the procedure of making it
2. The powder that is used in firing guns
3. The methods that are used in loading guns and shooting them accurately
4. Subterranean mines
5. The method of making fire tubes
6. The manner of making metal balls [that burst}
7. The methods of making tongues of fire
8. The methods of preparing fire pots
9. The method of making various compositions of artificial fires
10. Methods of constructing girandoles
The Last Chapter Concerning the fire that consumes without leaving ashes, that is more powerful than any other fire, and whose smith is the great son of Venus
Appendix A. Figures from other sources
Appendix B. Weights and measures
Appendix C. List of editions of the Pirotechnia
Appendix D. Bibliography

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