Because this book is intended as a popular account of gunpowder, not a scholarly work, I have forgone the use of footnotes to identify references. The following notes will indicate the sources of some of my research and will serve as a guide to those who wish to delve more deeply into the subject.
Brenda Buchanan at the University of Bath has been a leader in advancing the study of gunpowder technology and manufacturing. She is the editor of a collection of scholarly essays entitled Gunpowder: History of an International Technology (Moorland Publishing, 1996), which provides authoritative and wide-ranging resources on gunpowder’s rich history. A second volume is in the works.
George I. Brown’s The Big Bang, A History of Explosives (Sutton Publishing, 1998) offers an interesting and clearly written overview of explosives from gunpowder to nuclear fusion. In The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives (Angriff Press, 1972), MIT chemistry professor Tenney Davis gives details about all things explosive. First published in 1941, the book ranges from fireworks formulas to the chemical characteristics of nitrosoguanadine. Oscar Guttmann was one of the leading authorities on explosives at the end of the nineteenth century. His book The Manufacture of Explosives (Whittaker & Co., 1909) is full of valuable details about gunpowder.
Arnold Pacey traces the complex relationship of culture and technology in Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History (M.I.T. Press, 1990). Alfred W. Crosby’s book Throwing Fire: Projectile Technology Through History (Cambridge University Press, 2002) is a succinct and elegant summation of the subject. John Keegan’s A History of Warfare (Knopf, 1993) and William H. McNeill’s The Pursuit of Power (University of Chicago, 1982) are two excellent and thought-provoking works that discuss the broader context within which gunpowder developed.
The former Du Pont gunpowder factory in Wilmington, Delaware, has been turned into the Hagley Museum. The mills and workshops still stand, and the library contains a voluminous collection of materials dealing with gunpowder history. In England, the gunpowder works at Waltham Abbey, Essex, are maintained as an educational and tourist attraction.
Joseph Needham’s Science and Civilization in China (Cambridge University Press, 1986) is the most comprehensive source of information about gunpowder in ancient China. Needham spent a long lifetime documenting Chinese technical accomplishments. His scholarship is staggering; his sleeve-clutching insistence when it comes to Chinese precedence is difficult to resist. Volume 5, Part 7, of the encyclopedic work is the one relevant to “fire drug.”
Imperial China 900–1800 by Frederick W. Mote (Harvard University Press, 1999) gives an excellent overview, particularly of China’s relationship with the nomads of inner Asia.
Modern scholarship on gunpowder’s history began in 1960 with A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder (Johns Hopkins University Press reprint, 1998), by the chemist and science historian James R. Partington. Professor Partington’s terse style and his failure to provide translations of Greek and Latin quotation can be off-putting to casual readers, but his work remains among the most important in the field.
Philippe Contamine’s War in the Middle Ages (Blackwell, 1984) gives one of the most authoritative pictures of the military world in which gunpowder arose.
Barbara Tuchman’s remarkable account of the fourteenth century, A Distant Mirror (Knopf, 1979), provides a rich flavor of that time as well as details about Edward’s campaigns.
In Joan of Arc: A Military Leader, (Sutton Publishing, 1999) eminent military historian Kelly DeVries gives a wonderful analysis of Joan’s real accomplishments. Professor DeVries’ Medieval Military Technology (Broadview Press, 1992) is a meticulously researched exploration of early methods of fighting.
David Nicolle’s Constantinople 1453, (Osprey Publishing 2000) is a clear and nicely illustrated overview of the momentous battle. Franz Babinger provides more detailed information about the victor at Constantinople in Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time (Princeton University Press, 1978).
An intelligent discussion of the early days of gunpowder and gunpowder weaponry in Europe can be found in Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997) by Bert S. Hall. Professor Hall’s work combines groundbreaking scholarship with a highly readable style, a welcome combination in the field of technical literature.
Vannoccio Biringuccio’s Pyrotechnia was reprinted by The M.I.T. Press in 1966. The book is a fascinating artifact of the sixteenth century. The author’s last chapter deals with “the many sublimates and smoky tinctures” of “the burning and most powerful fire of love,” a touching coda to a grim subject.
Carolo M. Cipolla’s Guns, Sails, and Empires (Pantheon, 1966) is a lucid study of the nitty-gritty of early cannon and their impact on the world. In Giving Up the Gun (D. R. Godine, 1979) Noel Perrin tells the fascinating story of the rise and decline of gunpowder in Japan. Guns: An Illustrated History of Artillery (New York Graphic Society, 1971), edited by Joseph Jobé, is another useful guide.
A History of Fireworks (George G. Harrap & Co., 1949) by Alan St. H. Brock is a seminal source of information about the early development of pyrotechnics. Brock’s family operated one of England’s leading fireworks companies. George Plimpton’s more recent Fireworks: A History and Celebration (Doubleday, 1984) is a quirky, lavishly illustrated treatment of the subject.
Simon Pepper’s Firearms and Fortifications (University of Chicago Press, 1986) describes the ways in which forts and gunpowder weapons evolved together. Theater of Fire (Society for Theatre Research, 1998) by Phillip Butter-worth is an entertaining volume that delves into the gunpowder effects used in early theatrical performances. A discussion by J. R. Hale entitled “Gunpowder and the Renaissance: An Essay in the History of Ideas” contains a wealth of information about how gunpowder was perceived during its early days. It can be found in Charles H. Carter’s From the Renaissance to the Counter-Reformation (Random House, 1965).
Two outstanding books give details of gunpowder in naval warfare. Peter Pad-field’s Guns at Sea (St. Martins, 1974) is beautifully illustrated and reliable. The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1600–1815 (Conway Maritime Press, 1987) by Brian Lavery digs even more deeply into maritime minutia.
In Gunpowder and Galleys (Cambridge University Press, 1964) John F. Guilmartin gives an excellent overview of the evolution of war at sea and the role of gunpowder in the process. Sea Life in Nelson’s Time was written in 1905 by British Poet Laureate John Masefield. Reissued by the Naval Institute Press in 2002, it contains sharply etched images of naval life.
Wayne Cocroft gives a very detailed and meticulously researched account of early gunpowder manufacture in Dangerous Energy (English Heritage, 2000). In Essays and Papers on the History of Modern Science (John Hopkins University Press, 1977), Henry Guerlac includes a chapter called “The Poet’s Nitre: Studies in the Chemistry of John Mayow,” which provides interesting details about Mayow’s theories as they relate to gunpowder.
Cecil J. Schneer’s Mind and Matter (Grove Press, 1969) and John Read’s Through Alchemy to Chemistry (Harper and Row, 1957) both offer valuable insights into the early days of chemistry. Joseph Needham explored the idea of the gunpowder origins of the internal combustion engine in Gunpowder as the Fourth Power (Hong Kong University Press, 1983).
One of the most readable of the many works on the Powder Treason is Antonia Fraser’s elegant Faith and Reason (Doubleday, 1996). Fraser’s understanding of the times and personalities that formed the context of the plot contribute to a clear picture of an affair that remains murky in some respects even today.
Michael Roberts’s book Gustavus Adolphus and the Rise of Sweden (English Universities Press, 1973) untangles many of the complicated strands of the Thirty Years’ War. A History of Arms (AB Nordbok, 1976) by William Reid, is a very clearly illustrated account of the entire history of weapons and gives interesting details about this period.
Two works that offer important information about the earliest developments in ballistics are Ballistics in the Seventeenth Century (Cambridge University Press, 1952) by A. R. Hall; and Firepower: Weapons Effectiveness on the Battlefield 1630–1850 (Scribner, 1975) by B. P. Hughes. Jenny West’s Gunpowder, Government, and War in the Mid-eighteenth Century (Boydell & Brewer, 1991) contains much original data about the manufactured and handling of gunpowder in England.
Of Arms and Men: A History of War, Weapons, and Aggression (Oxford University Press, 1989) by Robert L. O’Connell is a wide-ranging and detailed discussion of the impact of weaponry on warfare. The author’s insights about the stagnation of weapons development in the eighteenth century are especially illuminating.
David H. Fischer’s engrossing discussion of the outbreak of the American Revolution, Paul Revere’s Ride (Oxford University Press, 1994), provides a vivid narrative that illuminates the role gunpowder played in the drama. Orlando W. Stephenson uncovered a good deal of information about the source of American gunpowder in the ensuing war and reported it in “The Supply of Gunpowder in 1776,” an article printed in the American Historical Revue (Volume 30, 1925).
Jean Pierre Poirier’s Lavoisier: Chemist, Biologist, Economist (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997) is a thorough account of the French scientist’s career. Robert Multhauf documented the efforts to produce gunpowder during and after Lavoisier’s administration in “The French Crash Program for Saltpeter Production, 1776–94” which appeared in Technology and Culture (Volume 12, 1971).
William Carr’s The Du Ponts of Delaware (Dodd, Mead, 1964) is a readable and balanced account of the gunpowder family. William Hosley produced an elegant, lavishly illustrated study called Colt: The Making of an American Legend (University of Massachusetts Press, 1996). Paul Wahl and Donald R. Toppel’s The Gatling Gun (Arco Publishing, 1965) is the definitive work on its subject.
Lee M. Pearson’s article “The ‘Princeton’ and the ‘Peacemaker’: A Study in Nineteenth-Century Naval Research and Development Procedures,” which appeared in Technology and Culture (Volume VII, Number 2; 1966), brings out many details of the tragic incident. Daniel B. Webster, Jr., wrote a detailed description of Thomas Rodman’s often underappreciated accomplishments in “Rodman’s Great Guns,” which appeared in Ordnance (July–August 1962).
Paddy Griffith’s Battle Tactics of the Civil War (Yale University Press, 1987) discusses the weapons of the war and how they were used. Pickett’s Charge: The Last Attack at Gettysburg (University of North Carolina Press, 2001) by Earl J. Hess is a riveting look at the greatest attack of the gunpowder age.
“The Augusta Powder Works: The Confederacy’s Manufacturing Triumph,” by C. L. Bragg, M.D., which appeared in Confederate Veteran (Volume 1, 1997), discusses George Washington Rains’ effort to supply his side during the war. Milton Perry’s Infernal Machines (Louisiana State University Press, 1985) tells the story of the Confederacy’s mine and submarine warfare.
History of the Explosives Industry in America (reissued by Ayer Company Publishers, 1998) by Arthur Pine Van Gelder and Hugo Schlatter was originally published in 1927. The book, weighing in at 1,132 pages, gives not only an exhaustive picture of an industry, but also a flavor of the days of mutton-chopped magnates.
Norman B. Wilkinson’s Lammot du Pont and the American Explosives Industry (University Press of Virginia, 1984) provides an informative discussion of Lammot’s career, the Powder Trust, and the later days of the gunpowder industry. Herta Pauli’s Alfred Nobel: Dynamite King—Architect of Peace (L. B. Fischer, 1942) is a balanced portrait of the originator of high explosives.
I want to acknowledge the many scholars who were generous with their time and information, and the librarians who went out of their way to help me track down obscure sources. Also: Jack Fielder, who provided a wealth of pyrotechnic detail; William Knight, who shared his insights and the results of his research into the technical aspects of gunpowder; Loretta Barrett, who backed the project enthusiastically from the beginning; and Joy Taylor, who read and commented on more than one draft of the book and provided moral support. Thanks to all.
The figures on p. are taken from The Fire-Drake Manual (or Huo Lung Ching), dated circa 1412. The illustrations on pp. 35, 37, and 44 are derived from German manuscripts dating from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. The images on pp. 42, 60, 68, 75, and 137 are all taken from The Gunner: The Making of Fire Works, by Robert Norton, first published in 1628. The portrait of Berthold Schwartz on p. 24 is from Pourtrait et vies de hommes illustres, by André Thevet, 1584. The drawing on p. 26 is adapted from “Bellifortis,” an illuminated manuscript dated circa 1400. The image on p. 58 is from the Munich Codex Germanicus #600. The drawing of a soldier on p. 67 is from Art Militaire au Cheval, by J.J. von Wallhausen, 1616. Page shows a woodcut by Sebald Beham, dating back to the early sixteenth century. The fire-breathing dragon on p. 83 is from Pyrotechnia, by John Babington, 1635. The somewhat fanciful warship on p. 92 is from a sixteenth-century engraving by Pieter Brueghel the Elder.
The illustrations on pp. 46, 71, and 150 are courtesy of Joy Taylor Graphic Design; figures on pp. 163, 175, 177, 179, 219, and 221 all appear courtesy of the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware; and the images on pp. 166, 215, and 237 are from the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.