First published in 1617, Michael Maier's alchemical emblem book contains a preface on ancient music and the Greek myth of Atalanta and Hippomenes and consists of 50 engraved emblems, each accompanied by a discourse and…

A studious, bearded alchemist in a red cap studies a book intently, one hand tracing the lines of text. Beside him, a brick furnace sits topped with glassware. A skull and hourglass rest on his table, reminding the…

The alchemist pauses in his work to glance over one shoulder at the distillation experiments in progress beside him. A multi-level furnace supports an alembic and receiver. A small text, perhaps a recipe collection or…

Integrum morborum mysterium: Sive medicinae catholicae tomo primi Tractatus secundus, in Sectiones distributus duas was published in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1631.

This first edition is a compendium of the occult…

A painting in brunaille, a monochromatic image in tones of brown. This painting shows a seated alchemist in peasant garb. In his hands he holds a crucible and a pair of tongs, working before the light of a glowing fire…

An apothecary in a fur-trimmed robe reads from a large book as his assistant looks on. Behind them, a dentist pulls a seated patient's tooth. A large celestial globe, distillation apparatus, and apothecary's jars…

An alchemist reads a large book, seated in a cluttered laboratory with drapery-strewn arched ceilings. The scene is illuminated by the glow of daylight from an open window. His desk is piled high with open texts, folios…

Holding a letter in his right hand, the alchemist glances to one side as if caught in contemplative thought. A large glass distillation apparatus—alembic, receiver, and cucurbit—is before him, shining with reflected…

The alchemist's workroom, cluttered with broken vessels and scattered papers, is lit with warm yellow light from the double window at left. Through a large archway we see the alchemist at work by his desk, studiously…

A dark study illuminated by single leaded glass window at left; in middle ground a seated man behind cluttered desk faces slightly left; open and closed books, papers, jars and jugs scattered on floor; at right a seated…

In the warm light of a left-hand window, a scholar sits absorbed in his work. His desk is topped with a wooden lectern, small vials and vessels, a globe, and an apothecary's jar with a red cloth lid. The room in which…

A second edition volume of Magnes (Cologne, 1643), by Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680), a German Jesuit scholar who published many extensive works on scientific, religious, and other subjects. Dubbed the “Master of a…

In the apothecary's workshop a man pours liquid from a jar into blue earthenware vessels. He is surrounded by copper bowls, jars, and sacks of endive and other herbs and vegetables likely used for medical preparations…

Frontispiece, title page, all plates from De montibus planetarum septem seu metallorum.

This 17th-century engraving is from Thomas Norton's The Ordinall of Alchimy and was made after a 15th-century illuminated manuscript (now preserved in the British Library). Norton, a practicing alchemist, depicts an…

This 17th-century engraving is from Thomas Norton's The Ordinall of Alchimy and was made after a 15th-century illuminated manuscript (now preserved in the British Library). Norton, a practicing alchemist, depicts the…

Engraved diagram from George Ripley's The Compound of Alchymie. Known as Ripley's Wheel, the drawing depicts concentric planetary spheres along with his alchemical recipes.