The Alchemy Reader: From Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton - Softcover

Linden, Stanton J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521796628 ISBN 13: 9780521796620

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2003

Synopsis

The Alchemy Reader is a collection of primary source readings on alchemy and hermeticism, which offers readers an informed introduction and background to a complex field through the works of important ancient, medieval and early modern alchemical authors. Including selections from the legendary Hermes Trimegistus to Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton, the book illustrates basic definitions, conceptions, and varied interests and emphases; and it also illustrates the highly interdisciplinary character of alchemical thought and its links with science and medicine, philosophical and religious currents, the visual arts and iconography and, especially, literary discourse. Like the notable anthologies of alchemical writings published in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it seeks to counter the problem of an acute lack of reliable primary texts and to provide a convenient and accessible point of entry to the field.

About this title

Review

'Linden's introduction to the collection and the headnotes accompanying each selection, which testify to Linden's long experience and wide reading in the history and texts of alchemy, will help make this a much-used volume.' British Society for the History of Science

Book Description

The Alchemy Reader offers an introduction to a wide range of alchemical authors and works, from the pre-Christian era to the end of the seventeenth century, and to its interdisciplinary links with science and medicine, philosophy, religion, and literature and the arts.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0521796628
• ISBN 13: 9780521796620
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288