Book excerpt: The Pyrotechnist's Treasury: A Guide to Making Fireworks and Pyrotechnics A Classic Guide to the Making of Fireworks and Pyrotechnics: Includes; Roman Candles: Rockets: Tourbillions: Crackers: Maroons: Lances: Shells: Montgolfier Balloons: Winged Rockets: Bursting Fire: Starting Fire: Wheel and Fixed Case: Squib and Serpent: Pinwheel: Saxon: 'The extensive use of these colours, from their beauty and variety, for stars and lancework, has very materially altered the class of fireworks, and necessitates the employment of an enormous quantity of quick-match. The preparation of this is one of the most disagreeable parts of Pyrotechny, besides demanding a great amount of manipulative skill. Most amateurs are deterred from attempting to manufacture it, and so have to content themselves with only the simplest pieces'. If you have an interest in pyrotechnics and their history then this publication is a gold mine of information, and is a must have for fireworks enthusiasts and historians.