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Dupee Fireworks Collection Recent Additions

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The Paul R.Dupee Jr. '65 Collection on Fireworks Home Page

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This "pictorial survey," with descriptive titles written by Maud Wotring, Raymond and John Hamlin, contains photographs of the spectacular firework displays that were part of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, held in San Francisco during September, 1915. (Not in Philip)

This second edition of a popular 19th-century collection of games and scientific experiments for boys adds to the resources of both the Smith Magic and the Dupee Fireworks Collections. Its two sections on conjuring contain instructions for 47 tricks, and the section on pyrotechnics is heavily illustrated. (Not in Philip)

Chris Philip devoted considerable space in the "introduction" to his Bibliography of firework books discussing a genre of books known as "mathematical recreations." With this edition, attributed to Claude Mydorge (1585-1647), there now are over a dozen 17th-century examples of this series scattered throughout various special collections. (Philip M210.5)

This is one of a series of anonymous, small, and cheaply-printed firework manuals that were sold in London during the early 19th century. Only one other copy of this specific title (at the New York Public Library) was located by Philip. (Philip A170.4)

This rare Spanish guide to recreational fireworks, Entertaining pyrotechnics, curious and agreeable recreative fireworks with various inventions and secrets and some general rules by which anyone can make others of his own invention, was assembled and edited by an anonymous "inquisitive one." It is divided into two parts: the first deals with the chemistry of fire, and the second details methods of preparation for various bombs, firecrackers and rockets. Philip's bibliography locates only two other copies of this publication (British Library and New York Public Library). (Philip P090.1)

This is a very early example of the "mathematical recreations" genre. For the most part it is a page-for-page reprint of Osmont's 1628 edition which also is in the Collection. (Philip E080.9)

A first edition of The French Bombardier or, New method of firing bombs with precision (Paris, 1731) already was in the Collection (Philip B080.1). Belidor, professor of mathematics at the Royal Artillery School at La Ferté and, later, Director of the Arsenal, identifies himself on the title-page of this second edition as a Member of the Royal Academies of Science in England and Germany, and a Correspondent of the French Academy. The first part of this work is devoted primarily to firing tables for mortars, while the second contains an essay on gunpowder followed by treatises on "fireworks most widely used in warfare," and "the composition of fireworks for celebrations." (Philip B080.2)

This is the second edition in French of the first comprehensive treatise on the "pyrotechnic" arts, which first appeared in Italian in 1540. Virtually all of Biringnucci's descriptions are based on his first-hand knowledge gained during various employments as a mine and forge operator, director of the Sienese mint, cannon caster and fortification builder, director of construction at the Duomo, and head of the papal foundry and munition works. Book X contains a section on "Artificial combustible materials ... commonly called fireworks to be used in ... warfare and for festivities on holidays." (Philip B110.7)

This is the catalogue for an exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, from June 6-September 17, 2000. (Not in Philip)

This is the first edition of The newest theory and practice of artillery, written by an artillery captain in the service of the free city of Danzig. Its final section contains "a complete description of the entertainments and principal fireworks on land and water, and how these are to be made and shown before Kings and Princes." (Philip B200.1)

This catalogue contains illlustrations of many firework displays that were available from the firm of C.T. Brock & Co. (Not in Philip)

This early 19th-century handbill advertises firework displays that could be "engineered" by Mary Clitherow. She may have been the daughter, or possibly the wife/widow, of Benjamin Clitherow < a late-18-century pyrotechnist who, as noted by Brock, was responsible for firework displays at Marylebone, Cupers Gardens and Ranelagh. His factory in Fleet Street, Bethnal Green, was destroyed by an explosion in 1814. (Not in Philip)

This is a copy of the enlarged third edition of The making of fireworks, from the Hartleben's Chemisch-technische Bibliothek series. (Philip E070.3)

Frézier, a military engineer by training, was probably one of the most influential writers on pyrotechnics in the mid-18th century. His Treatise of fireworks for celebration, first printed in 1706, concentrated on the planning and conduct of public pyrotechnic displays rather than on the manufacture of fireworks. This is one of three press-variant imprints for the new and augmented edition of the treatise which was published in 1747. It is a reprint of the Paris, 1747, edition issued by "Ch. Ant. Jombert", which was already in the Collection. The third variant, which is not in our Collection, bears the imprint of "Charles-Antoine Jombert." (Philip F110.5)

The artillery section in Gautier's military manual contains descriptions of recreational fireworks. (Not in Philip)

In his History of Fireworks (London: Harrap, 1949), Alan St. Hill Brock notes that "An otherwise unrecorded pyrotechnist, Carlo Genovini, was, in 1762, exhibiting his skill with 'stars, moving suns, a guilloche and reprises of water' from a 'machine' representing the Temple of Liberty, at the Star and Garter Tavern and Gardens, situated on a site roughly corresponding to Eaton Square, Belgravia" (62). This copy has a Russian ownership inscription, "Biblioteki Mikhailov. Artil. Akademii i Uchilishcha", inside the front cover, and is the only work by Genovini listed in the OCLC database. (Not in Philip)

A study of the Grucci family of New York and of the modern fireworks industry. It was written for a juvenile audience. (Not in Philip)

This is the third edition of The Fireworker, a handbook providing instructions for amateurs in the making of fireworks. Two later editions of this work, the fourth (1862) and sixth (1872), were already in the Collection. (Philip L100.4)

Majendie, V. D.
Reports on firework explosions: 1882-1895 ... ,
London: [1881-1885].

This is collection of reports on firework accidents presented to Parliament by Colonel Majendie, Chief Inspector of Explosives, and other members of the Home Office. Included is one on "The circumstances attending an explosion which occurred in Messrs. C. T. Brock & Co.'s firework factory at South Norwood, on the 24th May 1881." (Not in Philip)

This is a new edition of a classic and well documented study of Greek fire and other incendiary weapons. Partington also included a large amount of material on Chinese fireworks, gleaned from accounts written by early Jesuit missionaries. (Not in Philip)

Perrinet d'Orval, an officer in the French army's Corp of Engineers, issued the first edition of his Essay on fireworks for celebrations and war in 1745, and this revised edition was issued five years later. Later revised editions were published anonymously, under the title Manuel de l'artificier (Neuchatel, 1755; Paris, 1757). (Philip P060.2)

Catalog of an exhibition held at the Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, Los Angeles, Dec. 13, 1997-Mar. 1, 1998. (Not in Philip)

Schmidlap, Johann
Künstliche und rechtschaffene Feuerwerck zum schimpff, vormals im Druck nie aussgangen ... ,
Nuremberg: P. Kauffmann, 1608.

This is the seventh, and last, German edition of Artificial and honest fireworks for joy < a work which was first printed at Nuremberg in 1560. In one of his catalogues, Lathrop Harper described that text as being "the earliest published work devoted exclusively to fireworks as a form of entertainment. Earlier books have dealt with pyroterchnics ... but only from a military point of view." And Sotheran's Bibliotheca Chemico-Mathematica notes "this would appear to be the first German work on fireworks." Two copies of the 1564 edition (University of Wisconsin and Wellcome Institute, London) and only one of the 1591 edition (Huntington Library, San Marino, CA) are recorded in the OCLC database. (Philip S050.7)

The Lithuanian-born Siemienowicz, Lieutenant-General of Ordnance in service of the King of Poland, intended to write A Compleat Art of Artillery in two parts, but only the first part was finished before his death. This work deals with cannons, caliber, pyrotechnics, rockets, fire-balls and the construction of firework set-pieces. It contained the first description of multi-stage rockets, numerous "recipes" for firework displays, and was often plagiarized in other firework books for more than a century. The first edition, dedicated to Leopold Wilhelm, archduke of Austria, was published in Latin by Jan Jansson at Amsterdam in 1650. The following year this French translation, edited by Pierre Noizet and dedicated to William Frederick, count of Nassau, was issued by the same printer. A German version by Daniel Elrich, based upon the French edition, appeared at Frankfurt in 1676, and an English version, also based on the French edition, was composed by George Shelvocke, Jr., and published at London in 1729. All four of these editions are now in Special Collections. (Philip S130.2)

This is a reissue, with cancel title-page, of the first edition which was published by John James at London in 1738. Even though Smith, who is identified in the preface as "a foreigner, that has had no great share of school, much less of university learning," included a section on the manufacture of saltpeter in this handbook for the "pyrotechnic" crafts, he made no specific mention of "fireworks" in this edition. (Philip S160.2)

This second edition of The Laboratory is the first one to contain an appendix with "Proper lessons for the preparing and managing all sorts of rockets, crackers, fire wheels, fire globes, balls, stars, &c. in the executing of artificial and recreative fireworks." Five more editions, each one with a "fireworks appendix," were published in London before 1812. (Philip S160.3)

This first edition of the Description of many military machines, and artificial fireworks for war and recreation < exists with two states of the title-page. One gives precedence to Thybourel (as here), while the other cites Jean Appier dit Hanzelet, the engraver, in the first position. Appier-Hanzelet was so angered by the credit being given toThybourel as first author, that he rewrote the text and, using the same engravings, reissued it as La Pyrotechnie de Hanzelet Lorrain in 1630. (Philip A140.2)

This dissertation, dealing with public fireworks festivals, was publicly defended by Johan Törner, a student of Dr. Samuel Klingstierna (1698-1765) at the University of Uppsala, Sweden. (Not in Philip)

Vergnaud, Armand Denis (1791-1885)
Manuel de l'artificier, ou l'art de faire toutes sortes de feux d'artifice a peu de frais, et d'apres les meilleurs procedures ... ,
Paris: Roret, 1826.

Vergnaud is identified on the title-page as a captain in the 2nd regiment of horse-drawn artillery, a former pupil at the École Polytechnique, and a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. He wrote numerous elementary scientific and technical manuals dealing with chemical experiments, gunpowder, guilding and glazing, manufacture of paints, geometry and perspective in painting, industrial mechanics, brewing of beer, and popular astronomy for the "Manuels" and "Librairie Encyclopédique" series produced by Roret. This is the first edition of his Fireworker's manual devoted to the art of making all sorts of fireworks cheaply and safely. Its final 9 pages contain a a short but useful bibliography of 16th-19th-century "Ouvrages relatifs a la pyrotechnie, publiés par divers auteurs Français et étrangers." A revised edition, Nouvelle manuel de l'artificier, du poudrier et du salpêtrier ..., was issued by Roret in 1838 and reprinted in facsimile by Léonce-Paget at Paris in 1981, both of these also are in the Dupee Collection. (Philip V040.1)

Weingart, who is generally considered the father of modern American firework practice, issued his first major work, Dictionary of Pyrotechnics, in 1930. This is a contemporary reprint of the second, revised and enlarged, edition of his very popular manual on the manufacture of fireworks, Pyrotechnics, which was originally published in Brooklyn by the Chemical Publishing Company, sometime during 1947. (Not in Philip)

This selection of posters and other broadsides originally issued by John Proctor of Hartpool, includes reprints of some 19th-century advertisments for firework displays. (Not in Philip)

Illustrations and Fireworks Display: C. T. Brock & Co. Crystal Palace Fireworks, Ltd. Album of 34 gouaches on black cartridge paper of fireworks set piece displays and rockets. Ca. 1900.

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