ABSTRACT

This article explores a succession of goldsmiths’ recipe books or books of secrets, which emerged from the early modern Royal Mint and Goldsmiths’ Company. It argues that in their rich descriptions of metallurgical workshop practices, techniques and tools, these artisan-authors also narrated contested institutional histories and their own life experiences. For London’s assayers (who had responsibility to test the precious metal content of bullion, plate and coin), authorship functioned as a status-enhancing activity. Writing treatises was a means of articulating expertise and of rooting that skilled identity beyond the self, within a much longer trajectory of institutional production and regulation.

摘要

本文探讨了一系列金匠食谱书或秘籍，这些书来自现代早期的皇家铸币厂和金匠公司。它认为，在他们对冶金车间实践、技术和工具的丰富描述中，这些工匠作家还讲述了有争议的机构历史和他们自己的生活经历。对于伦敦的化验师（他们负责测试金条、盘子和硬币的贵金属含量），作者身份起到了提升地位的作用。撰写论文是表达专业知识的一种方式，也是在更长的制度生产和监管轨迹中将这种熟练的身份扎根于自我之外的一种方式。