8vo. (219 x 156 mm). Mid-nineteenth century Spanish manuscript on paper, bound in contemporary full tree calf, the backstrip decoratively gilt-stamped, the text in a neat italic hand. The binding contains 196 leaves, of which 127 are paginated [1]-254 comprising the text, the remaining leaves are blank. Tipped-in following p.254 of the manuscript are three large, folding, pen and ink drawings of equipment and tools employed in the manufacture of gunpowder and fireworks, and images of scaffolding structures used in firework displays, several tables and charts throughout the text; the binding rubbed at the extremities, abrasion to localised areas of the surface of both boards, the leather to the upper joint split and repaired, the binding sound, light scattered spotting to the three folding drawings, otherwise a bright, clean example.

A comprehensive and elegantly rendered account of the manufacture of military and recreational pyrotechnics, with detailed recipes, and lists of weights and measures. The author writes in the ‘Advertencia’ that he has consulted a number of earlier works by various authorities on the subject of military and recreational fireworks and the production of gunpowder: principal among them, Jean Charles Herpin’s Recreations Chimiques ou Recueil d’Experiences Curieuses et Instructives ..., published in Paris in 1824, translated into Spanish and published in Barcleona in 1827; Armand Denis Vergnaud’s Nouveau Manuel de l’Artificier, du Poudrier et du Salpêtrier ..., published in Paris in 1838, and Don Claudio del Fraxno and Don Joaquín de Bouligny’s Tratado De La Teoría y Fabricación De La Pólvora En General, Las Piezas De Artilliera ..., issued in Segovia in 1847. The manual is divided into two main parts: el primero abraza toda la Pirotecnia militar ó de guerra; y el segundo la Pirotecnia civil ó popular.’

Stock number: 1411