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 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…

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…

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…

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…

Table of alchemical symbols from The last will and testament of Basil Valentine, monke of the Order of St. Bennet. These and other symbols are common throughout alchemical literature and were used to denote some…

A first edition work, with two volumes bound in one folio, by Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680), a German Jesuit scholar who published many extensive works on scientific, religious, and other subjects. Dubbed the “Master…

The engraved emblem on the lower half of this title page was made after a 15th-century illuminated manuscript (now preserved in the British Library) and depicts an eagle, snake, and toad against a solar and lunar…

First published in 1652, this compilation of English alchemical literature was collected and annotated by Elias Ashmole. The book made available many works that had previously existed only in privately held manuscripts,…

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.

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…

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…

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

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…

This is a seventeenth-century copy of a fifteenth-century translation and re-working of the Rosarius Philosophorum, one of the most important texts in the corpus of alchemical works that circulated under the name of…

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…

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…

Two, first edition volumes bound together. Written by the English scientist, physician, alchemist, and Rosicrucian, Robert Fludd (1574–1637), this encyclopedic work is broadly themed upon the macrocosm and microcosm,…

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…