The Alchemy Reader: From Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton

by Stanton J. Linden (Editor)

Overview

Ranging from the pre-Christian era to Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton at the end of the seventeenth century, this Reader covers a broad range of alchemical authors and works. Organized chronologically, it includes around thirty selections in authoritative but lightly-modernized versions. The selections will provide the reader with a basic introduction to the field and its interdisciplinary links with science and medicine, philosophy, religion, and literature and the arts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521796620
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/28/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.61(w) x 9.49(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Stanton J. Linden is Professor Emeritus of English, Washington State University. His publications include Darke Hierogliphicks: Alchemy in English Literature from Chaucer to the Restoration (1996), Emblems and Alchemy (co-editor, 1998), and a critical edition of George Ripley's Compound of Alchymy (2001).

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. Ancient Texts: 1. Hermes Trismegistus: The Emerald Table (Tabula smaragdina); 2. Plato: from the Timaeus; 3. Aristotle: from the Meteorology; 4. Pseudo-Democritus: from the Treatise of Democritus on Things Natural and Mystical; 5. Anonymous: Dialogue of Cleopatra and the Philosophers; 6. Anonymous: from Leiden Papyrus X and the Stockholm Papyrus; 7. Zosimos of Panopolis: Of Virtue, Lesson 1-3; 8. Stephanos of Alexandria: from The Great and Sacred Art of the Making of Gold; 9. Anonymous: The Poem of the Philosopher Theophrastos upon the Sacred Art; Part II. Islamic and Medieval Texts: 10. Khalid ibn Yazid: from Secreta Alchymiae; 11. Pseudo-Geber: from Of the Investigation or Search of Perfection; Of the Sum of Perfection; and His Book of Furnaces; 12. Avicenna: De Congelatione et Conglutinatione Lapidum; 13. Albertus Magnus: from the Libellus de Alchimia; 14. Roger Bacon: from the Radix Mundi; 15. Nicolas Flamel: from His Exposition of the Hieroglyphical Figures; 16. Bernard, Earl of Trevisan: A Treatise of the Philosophers Stone; 17. George Ripley: The Epistle of George Ripley written to King Edward the 4; Part III. Renaissance and Seventeenth Century Texts: 18. Paracelsus: from Of the Nature of Things and Paracelsus His Aurora; 19. Francis Anthony: Aurum-Potabile: or the Receit of Dr. Fr. Antonie; 20. Michael Sendivogius: from A New Light of Alchymie and A Dialogue between Mercury, the Alchymist and Nature; 21. Robert Fludd: from Mosaicall Philosophy; 22. Gabriel Plattes: A Caveat for Alchymists; 23. John French: preface to The Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trimegistus in XVII Books; 24. George Starkey/Eirenaeus Philalethes: The Admirable Efficacy, and almost incredible Virtue of true Oyl; from An Exposition Upon Sir George Ripley's Epistle to King Edward IV; 25. Elias Ashmole: Prolegomena to the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum; 26. Robert Boyle: from An Historical Account of a Degradation of Gold Made by an Anti-Elixir: A Strange Chymical Narrative; 27. Isaac Newton: The Key (Keynes MS 18); The Commentary on the Emerald Tablet (Keynes MS 28), King's College, Cambridge; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"... a new and valuable source of how these complicated ideas were originally expressed." Seattle Weekly

"The ideas presented in Linden's introduction are thoughtfully represented by his slections of primary sources. The readings themsleves are each prefaced by biographical information and commentary on the authors and texts, and the extensive bibliography and reading lists offer direction for further research." Sixteenth Century Journal Aida Patient, University of Alberta

From the Publisher