[2] Parts were translated into Latin (by Georgius Agricola), English (Richard Eden; Peter Whitehorn) and Spanish (Bernardo Perez de Vargas) at various times in the 1550s and 1560s, generally without acknowledgement.

[3] The second book on metallurgy, De re metallica, was written in Latin by Georgius Agricola, and published in 1556.

In the Middle Ages these people held the same leading role as the master builders of the great cathedrals, or perhaps also alchemists.

The translation of Pirotechnia was by Cyril Stanley Smith, a senior chemist on the Manhattan Project, and Martha Teach Gnudi.

The majority of the work is devoted to the more technical aspects of metalworking (such as the mining, assaying and smelting of ores), but Biringuccio also provides insights into the humanistic philosophy of the Italian Renaissance.