author

J. Durno

An inventive 18th-century writer known for a practical little book on heating, this author focused on making everyday life warmer, cheaper, and less smoky. The surviving record points to a hands-on inventor as much as a writer.

1 Audiobook

A Description of a New-Invented Stove-Grate Shewing Its Uses and Advantages Over All Others, Both in Point of Expence, and Every Purpose of a Chamber Fire

A Description of a New-Invented Stove-Grate Shewing Its Uses and Advantages Over All Others, Both in Point of Expence, and Every Purpose of a Chamber Fire

by J. Durno

About the author

Very little biographical information about J. Durno appears to survive in the sources I could confirm. What is clear is that J. Durno is credited as the author of A Description of a New-Invented Stove-Grate, a work published in London in 1753.

The book presents and promotes Durno’s own stove-grate design, explaining its uses and advantages for chamber fires. Contemporary publication details identify Durno not just as the author but as "the inventor," and note that the book was published by him and sold from his house in Jermyn Street.

That makes J. Durno an interesting figure in early practical writing: someone who seems to have written directly from experience, using print to explain and market a real domestic technology. Because so little more could be verified with confidence, many personal details about Durno’s life remain uncertain.