Pyrotechnics: The History and Art of Firework Making

A comprehensive survey traces the origins and evolution of fireworks, examining early uses in the East and Europe, their role in public entertainments and pleasure gardens, and changes through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It explains manufacturing methods and safety practices, catalogs simple and compound devices (rockets, shells, mines, wheels and lances), and details pyrotechnic compositions and modern variants. Military applications and wartime developments are considered alongside civil display techniques, accidents and preventative measures. The volume includes technical diagrams, coloured illustrations, ingredient lists and a bibliography to support practical and historical study.