GUNPOWDER TECHNOLOGY in the FIFTEENTH CENTURY A Study, Edition and Translation of thr Firework Book
By Axel E. W. Müller
ISBN: 978-1783277315 Boydell & Brewer, 2024 $160.00 (hardback)
Firework Book is a type of German technical manuscript produced during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that deals with the technology of gunpowder. It is a vital source for military and technological historians due to the unique insights it provides. But until now, such sources have lacked a professional translation into English. This makes Axel E. W. Müller's Gunpowder Technology in an especially valuable contribution to the literature on this topic. His book consists of a translation, description, and analysis of manuscript I.34 held at the library of the Royal Armouries in Leeds. This is perhaps the most important surviving example of a Firework Book due to its condition (it was not rebound in the post-medieval period), and, unusually for the genre, it includes contemporary illustrations.
