author
Practicus
A practical Victorian writer on fireworks, this elusive author is best known for turning pyrotechnics into something a curious amateur could actually learn. Even the name seems to be a pen name, which adds a little mystery to the sparks.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Practicus is the credited author of Pyrotechny: or, The Art of Making Fireworks, at Little Cost, and with Complete Safety and Cleanliness, a 19th-century manual on fireworks first published in London in 1873. Modern library and ebook records consistently treat "Practicus" as the author name, but they do not offer much reliable biographical detail.
One important clue survives in catalog records: the Getty Research Institute / Internet Archive record for the 1873 edition says the work is attributed to Dennis Times Moore. Because that attribution appears in a library-style record rather than in a full modern biography, it is best treated as a probable identification rather than an absolute certainty.
Whoever stood behind the name, the writing is clearly aimed at readers who wanted clear, hands-on instruction rather than grand theory. That practical tone fits the pseudonym perfectly, and it helps explain why the book has continued to interest historians, hobbyists, and readers curious about Victorian science and entertainment.