This early treatise on the chemistry and technology of glassmaking by Antonio Neri revealed the closely guarded secrets of Venetian glassmaking for the first time. The main part of the text deals with the coloring of glass with metallic oxides and contains recipes for variations in a color. Neri, a priest, learned the art of glassmaking at Murano and continued his studies on chemistry and glass at Antwerp. Many editions and translations of this text appeared throughout the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries.