Alchemy in Europe: A Guide to Research

147 Pages·2012·8.43 MB·English

by  Claudia Kren

ALCHEMY IN EUROPE
A Guide to Research
Claudia Kren
GARLAND PUBUSHING, INC. • NEW YORK & LONDON
1990
© 1990 Claudia Kren
All rights reserved
Kren, Claudia, 1929-
Alchemy in Europe: a guide to research / Qaudia Kren.
p. an. - (Garland reference library of the humanities;
vol. 692)
ISBN 0-8240-8538-8 (alk. paper)
1. Alchemy-Europe-History-Bibliography. I. Title.
n.
Series.
Z5524.A35K74 1990
[QD131
01654'Ol'12094-dc20 90--2899
CIP
Printed on acid-free, 250-year-life paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
ALCHEMY
ALCHEMY IN EUROPE

ALCHEMY IN EUROPE
A Guide to Research
CLAUDIA KREN
Volume 4
Firstpublishedin1990
Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2013
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©1990ClaudiaKren
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CONTENTS
Introduction vii
The Bibliography
Research Aids 3
General Works 9
Early Alchemy 21
Medieval Alchemy 31
Alchemy in the Renaissance 53
Alchemy in Early Modern Europe (17th-18th Centuries) 67
Alchemy in Context
Alchemy and the Arts 87
Alchemy and Society 95
Alchemy and the Spiritual 100
Alchemy and Newton 108
Index 117

INTRODUCfION
We are all familiar with the conventional picture of the alchemist,
huddled over his retort, pursuing his vain dream of the Philoso
pher's Stone, destined to change base metal into gold, or of an
elixir designed to insure health, long life, or even immortality.
This stereotype, while not untrue, hardly does justice to the
significance of the alchemical enterprise. For example, it fails to
account for the centuries-long fascination alchemy has exercised or
for its worldwide appeal. While this bibliography concerns only
alchemy as practiced in Western Europe, the art has had a long
history in many diverse cultures.
Alchemy in the West is a complex phenomenon. There were
alchemists whose search for the stone or the elixir was confined
to what appears to be straightforward laboratory work with
frequently recognizable reagents, apparatus, and processes (often
called "exoteric" alchemy); in fact, the alchemist's laboratory,
especially his favorite procedure, slow distillation, has given rise to
an array of useful furnaces, stills, and other apparatus. But a
study of alchemy and its devotees often reveals an activity which,
while not necessarily divorced from actual manipulation, clearly
had a meaning for the practitioner which transcended the labora
tory. In this aspect of the alchemical enterprise (sometimes
referred to as "esoteric" alchemy), the would-be adept considered
his materials and apparatus as elements in a spiritual metaphor,
an inner process brought to a successful fruition only by those
with no crass motive such as personal gain. This so-called Great
Work was a lengthy one with several distinct stages and marked
always with the possibility of failure. The two types of alchemy,
that of the laboratory and that of the mind, have been interwoven
in the Western alchemical tradition from its inception and so,
from the earliest days, alchemical texts are not always experimental
notebooks but are filled with arcane symbols, fantastic metaphors,
vii