TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 693 The Art of Gunfounding: The Casting of Bronze Cannon in the Late 18th Century. Edited by Carel de Beer. Rotherfield, East Sussex: Jean Boudriot Publications, 1991. Pp. viii + 232; illustrations, appen dixes, bibliography, index. £50.00. There can be no doubt concerning the historical importance of bronze cannon. The great transoceanic empires of the early modern period were carved out in large measure on the basis of European mastery of black powder ordnance. Gunpowder left its mark on the state in the administrative and fiscal innovations that it both forced and facilitated, and, within the larger story of gunpowder weaponry, heavy ordnance of cast bronze played a central role. From the mid-15th century until well into the 19th, bronze artillery was the apotheosis of military technology, the most powerful and prestigious instrument of destruction extant. Even after the advent of cast-iron ordnance in the mid-16th century, bronze retained its importance. Although more expensive than iron, bronze cannon were lighter, handier, and safer . . . and more beautiful, for beyond the aesthetic qualities of the metal, bronze lent itself to sculptural embellishments that cast iron could not match. From a variety of standpoints then—artistic, economic, and most of all military—bronze cannon were very important for a very long time, yet modern scholars have paid remarkably little attention to how they were made. Though scholarly disdain for war is perhaps a factor, the fundamental reason is the daunting complexity of the subject. As The Art of Gunfounding makes abundantly clear, the manufacture of bronze ordnance was horrendously complicated. Attention to detail was of paramount importance, yet there was no underlying theory to explain why: only centuries of accumulated experience buttressed by the results of proof firings. The best the historian/analyst can hope to do is to record what was done and assess the process in the light of today’s scientific knowledge and engineering practice. Carel de Beer does exactly that in what will surely remain the definitive treatment for the foreseeable future. A mechanical engi neer with a particular interest in cannon founding, the author was inspired by a unique set of pencil-and-watercolor drawings illustrating foundry practice at Britain’s Woolwich Arsenal, 1770—81 (or perhaps 1770—86; the dates and authorship are open to question, an issue nicely addressed on pp. 25-29). Executed by either Jan or Pieter Verbruggen, father and son and master founders in turn, the drawings are beautifully done and are works of art in their own right. They are also technically informed, for the Verbruggens were highly compe tent founders, and document the gunfounding process step-by-step: construction of the molds (twenty-eight prints), embedding them in the casting pit (four prints), firing the furnace and preparing the metal (four prints), the pour (two prints), tending the molds as they cooled (one print), breaking the cannon from the molds (four 694 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE prints), and boring and finishing (six prints). De Beer’s text elucidates the prints and provides an encyclopedic description of gunfounding at Woolwich under the Verbruggens. The drawings’ principal limitation as a source is the lack of an associated text, a deficiency made good here by the inclusion of two contemporary treatises on gunfounding, the first by David Emanuel Musly, a Swiss founder in Dutch service, dating from the 1760s, and the second by Isaac Landman, professor of artillery and fortification at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, written in 1793. Musly’s previously unpublished text, lavishly illustrated with plates, is remark ably comprehensive, omitting only the horizontal boring operation, which was considered a state secret (de Beer gives full coverage of both horizontal and vertical boring elsewhere). Landman’s less formal text, illustrated with his delightful sketches, provides a useful account of English practice two decades after the Verbruggens. Last, but not least, is a brief but richly informative chapter in which de Beer applies current knowledge of casting technology to the problem. His salient conclusion, at least as I read it: early modern gunfounding was based on a combination of rigorously adhered to traditional practice and informed guesswork; that the more successful practitioners suc...