Glass. NERI. L'arte vetraria distinta in libri sette.

NERI, Antonio. L'arte vetraria distinta in libri sette.Firenze, Giunta, 1612.4to, mm. 203x140. Legatura p. pergamena, titoli in oro su tass. al dorso. pp. 8, 114, 6. Bell’esemplare.Prima edizione del primo libro dedicato al vetro, alla sua fabbricazione e coloritura. D.S.B.: “Neri is remembered for L'arte vetraria, 1612, a little book in which many, although by no means all, of the closely guarded secrets of glassmaking were printed for the first time. He recommended that glass be made from rocchetta, a fairly pure sodium sesquicarbonate from the Near East, and tarso, which he described as a kind of marble but which must have been some form of silica. He did not indicate the source of the necessary proportion of lime. The main part of the text deals with the coloring of glass with metallic oxides to give not only clear and uniform colors but also various veined effects. There are chapters on making lead glass of high refractive index and enamel, opaque, glass by the addition of tin oxide.” Singer: “The greater part of the book is devoted to the coloration of glass, both to imitate gemstones and for the use of enamellers.” D.S.B., X, p. 23; Singer, History of Technology, III, p. 217; Duncan 9299; Partington, II, p. 368; Ferguson, II, pp. 134-35.