Fireworks : pyrotechnic arts and sciences in European history / Simon Werrett.

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2010.

359 pages, 16 pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm

"Perfecting the pyrotecnique story" : the ingenious invention of artificial fireworks -- Philosophies of fire : pyrotechny as alchemy, magic, and mechanics -- A touch of cold philosophy : incendiarism and experiment at the Royal Society -- Spectacular beginnings : fireworks in eighteenth-century Russia -- Traveling Italians : pyrotechnic macchine in Paris, London, and St. Petersburg -- The Encyclopédie and the electric fire : pyrotechnic contexts for the arts and sciences -- Philosophical fireworks : domesticating pyrotechnics for a polite society -- Conclusion: the geography of art and science.

Includes bibliographical references and index.