making porcelin technology

The story of porcelain manufacturing in Europe, with the discovery of it's "arcanum", or secret formula, as the linchpin. A veritable rogues gallery of central Europe in the early eighteenth century. Well written, but not a real page turner, and some of the digressions were, well, tired. Would have profited greatly from a few photos of the works described. ( )

The history of porcelain in Europe. ( )

I was completely fascinated by the story. I read it in 2005 so I'll need to reread it to write a proper review but it's a testament to how good it was that it is one of the first book I think of when someone ask me what I like to read.
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Did you know that for centuries, only Asian countries knew the secret of creating porcelain? Neither did I, until I happened upon Janet Gleeson’s The Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story. Gleeson’s book tells the story of a self-proclaimed alchemist who convinced a king that he could turn lead into gold. Unable to duplicate his initial “success,” the alchemist was imprisoned until such time as he made good on his claims. He was never able to turn lead into gold, but he did stumble upon the recipe for porcelain. The kicker is that he never really got out of prison—although happy to profit from the sudden fashion for porcelain, the king never forgave the erstwhile alchemist for not turning lead into gold. ( )