Those of you who recall my last experiments making alleged fire retardant will remember that I found information about it in the journal of the Historical Metallurgy society, in an article by Jochem Walters. With regards to the fire retardant he says:
Un-slaked lime has been a component of widely varied fire-proof products throughout the modern period. See the Curioser Kunstler (1 133/257/305/348)
There was an e-mail address at the bottom of the article, so I mailed him a couple of weeks ago, and received a reply.
He said that the Kurioser Kunstler was the largest collection of recipes for all sorts of things, and was published by Johann Kunckel von Loewenstjern, anonymously in Nuremberg in 1696. The full title being „Der Curieusen Kunst- und Werck-Schule
erster und anderer Theil“
Now, Kunst translates roughly as art, and I think a rough translation would read “The curious art and work something something something. (OK, I’m going to have to ask Lukas what this means)
It was translated by Robert Dossie in “The Handmaid to the Arts”, vol. 2, 1750, with various editions published later in the century. Now, it would be really good if I could get a copy of this, unfortunately there are not any I can find online for sale. Apparently they are very rare. But another of his books is available for only £150.
Nobody appears to have re-published it since the 18th century. I am finding this is a very common problem, whether I am after translations of Geber, or some 25th century alchemical works, it seems the last full reprinting was often done in the 17th or 18th centuries. Which is only to be expected, but it means that for someone like me who I only dabbling in it, information is very hard to come by.
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