Weiser Antiquarian Books Catalog # 28.
Alchemy and Hermetica.
Books from the collection of Robert Lenkiewicz. Part II.
IMPORTANT. Please note that this is an out-of-date catalog and is stored here for interest's sake only. Many of the books listed have already sold. Those that are still available are listed in the searchable database on the main page of our website at http://www.weiserantiquarian.com , or you can inquire direct by email
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Contents of this Catalog:
A Selection of Used, Out-of-Print, and Scarce books from the Collection of Robert Lenkiewicz.
Three Alchemical Manuscripts Prepared by Robert Lenkiewicz.
Alchemical & Hermetic Tracts, Hand-bound by Robert Lenkiewicz.
Books from the Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks series by Adam McLean.
About This Catalog & How To Purchase From It.
Lyndy Abraham, Marvell and Alchemy. Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1990. First Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. xii +364 pp. Black cloth with gilt titling to spine, b&w plates and illustrations, extensive bibliography, index. "Dr Abraham begins by examining the currency of alchemical thought in Britain and Europe and its presence in the work of such poets as Shakespeare, Jonson, Done, Herrick, Milton and Dryden. The study then moves on to a detailed examination of Marvell's long poems …. in which the author demonstrates the extensive presentation of the alchemical process. …" Light shelf dust, a few chafed spots on upper board, otherwise a tight and clean Near fine copy in lightly rubbed Near fine dust jacket. (33087) Please check our website for current availability.
Frater Albertus, With a Foreword by Israel Regardie. The Alchemist's Handbook. (Manual for Practical Laboratory Alchemy) . London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976. First UK printing of the 1974, Revised Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. 124 pp. Blue cloth with gilt title, etc. to spine, b&w illustrations, appendix. The first British printing of the Revised Edition of Albertus' The Alchemist's Handbook, with a new foreword by Israel Regardie. Cloth slightly mottled, otherwise a clean and unmarked Near Fine copy in lightly rubbed Near Fine covered dust jacket. (33089) Please check our website for current availability.
John Marco Allegro, The Treasure of the Copper Scroll, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1960. First Edition. Hardcover. 4to. 192 pp. Green cloth with gilt titling, b&w illustrations, map endpapers, diagrams, index. The story of the discovery of the two 'copper scrolls' in 1952 - five years after the original discovery of the 'Dead Sea Scrolls.' With translations, notes, etc. Cloth a bit mottled and discoloured particularly on spine, corners rubbed and lightly bumped., light chafing overall. Still, overall a sound and unmarked VG copy in VG- dust jacket. (Dust jacket internally tape reinforced, rubbed at edges, price clipped) (33111) Please check our website for current availability.
M. A. Atwood, Introduction by Walter Leslie Wilmhurst. Hermetic Philosophy and Alchemy with a Dissertation on the More Celebrated of the Alchemical Philosophers. Being an Attempt towards the Recovery of the Ancient Experiment of Nature. [A Suggestive Inquiry Into Hermetic Philosophy and Alchemy] . New York, NY: Julian Press, 1960. Reprint. Hardcover, large 8vo, [64pp] xxvi + 598 pp. Green cloth with gilt title, etc. to spine, top edge blue, appendix. Boards very lightly chafed with light bumping and rubbing to extremities. With 20 or so slips of paper with short notes on them loosely inserted as page markers by Lenkiewicz. Page edges dusty and lightly thumbed, Helios Book Service sticker on title page. Otherwise a tight and unmarked VG+ copy in VG - dust jacket. (Dust jacket chafed, rubbed at edges, lightly chipped, neatly reinforced on the inside upper edge, not price clipped). (33173) SOLD
M. A. Atwood, A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery, with a Dissertation on the More Celebrated of the Alchemical Philosophers Being an Attempt towards the Recovery of the Ancient Experiment of Nature. Belfast, Ireland: William Tait, 1920. Third edition. Hardcover. 8vo. 597 pp. + 1 pp advert. Blue pebbled cloth with gilt titling to spine, frontis photo of the author, appendix. Cloth quite sunned at spine and edges of boards, spine ends and corners lightly bumped, edges lightly rubbed, endpapers unevenly browned, page edges browned. Still a sound and unmarked VG copy. No dust jacket. (33174) Please check our website for current availability.
Noel L. Brann, The Abbot Trithemius (1462 - 1516). The Renaissance of Monastic Humanism. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981. First Edition. Hardcover, large 8 vo. xxvi + 400 pp. A major study of the life and works of Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), the Benedictine Abbot. Most widely known as monastic humanist, Trithemius, was also fascinated by history the occult, cryptography and steganography (the art writing secret messages encoded in such a way that no one save the write and recipient even realise that there is a secret message), with his most famous work, Steganographia, appearing to be a grimoire, but actually being a treatise on that subject. Curiously the cipher manuscripts which formed the foundation block of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn were encrypted using a simple substitution code described by Trithemius in his book Polygraphia. Studies of the History of Human Thought. Volume XXIV. Some scraps of paper with Lenkiewicz's notes, page references etc. loosely inserted in the text. Navy cloth with gilt titling to upper board and spine, b&w illustrations, bibliography, index. Just a hint of shelf dust, otherwise a sound and bright Near Fine copy in VG+ dust jacket. (Dust jacket lightly rubbed with a few very light stray marks to panels). (33096) Please check our website for current availability.
Noel L. Brann, Trithemius and Magical Theology. A Chapter in the Controversy Over Occult Studies in Early Modern Europe. Albany, NY: SUNY, 1999. First Edition. Hardcover, 8vo. x + 354 pp. Pictorial papered boards, b&w illustrations, notes, bibliography and index. "Through an examination of the Benedictine abbot Trithemius (1462-1516), this book explores the intersection of the early modern debate over occult studies with a number of contemporaneous developments: late medieval mysticism, the revival of ancient letters, the Catholic and Protestaan reform movements, the witch hunts, and the scientific revolution." Boards very lightly chafed, otherwise Fine condition. (33099) Please check our website for current availability.
Tons Brunés, The Secrets of Ancient Geometry and Its Use.(2 Volumes in slipcase). Copenhagen : Rhodos, International Science Publishers, 1967. First edition, First issue. Hardcover. sm.4tos. 2 volumes. 331pp + 252 pp, 381 illustrations. Original green cloth w/ gilt title etc, beautifully and profusely illustrated, fold-outs. The standard work on the subject: now hard-to-find and much sought-after. Just the faintest of shelf dust, light pencil marks in the margins of a couple of pages, otherwise a clean and bright set - inside and out. Near fine condition in VG dust jackets. Dust jackets lightly chipped at corners and spine ends, a few light spots, rubbed at all edges. Housed in original printed cardboard slipcase. VG - slipcase is a bit browned, creased at spine, chipped at edges. (33127) Please check our website for current availability.
[Giordano Bruno] John Bossy, Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Affair. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991. First edition. Hardcover, large 8vo, + 294 pp. Dark blue cloth, gilt title, etc. to spine, pictorial endpapers, illustrations. A true life detective story, recounting events that mainly took place in late sixteenth century London. As the title suggests the great hermetic philosopher, Giordano Bruno, is one of the central characters. Light shelf dust, otherwise Fine condition in lightly chafed Near fine dust jacket. (33139) Please check our website for current availability.
[Giordano Bruno] A. Buono Hodgart, Giordano Bruno's The Candle-Bearer. An Enigmatic Renaissance Play. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1997. First Edition. Hardcover, 8vo. xiv + 210 pp. Original green cloth with gilt titling etc to spine and upper board, notes and index. A detailed study of Candelaio, ( 'The Canble-Bearer') a philosophical comedy by Giordano Bruno. Medieval/Renaissance Studies Volume 16. Fine condition. No dust jacket as issued. Scarce. (33142) Please check our website for current availability.
[Giordano Bruno] Karen Silvia De Leon-Jones, Giordano Bruno and the Kabbalah Prophets, Magicians and Rabbis. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1997. First Edition. Hardcover, 8vo. x + 274 pp. Black cloth with silver titling to spine, notes, biblio and index. Yale Studies in Hermeneutics. A reinterpretation of Bruno, focussing on him as a mystic and Kabbalist, rather than the Hermeticist and Magus depicted by Yates and others. Very light shelf dust, otherwise Fine in lightly chafed Near fine dust jacket. (33141) SOLD
Titus Burckhardt, Translated by William Stoddart. Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul. London: Stuart & Watkins, 1967. First English language edition. Hardcover. small 8vo, 206 pp. Red cloth with gilt title, etc. to spine, b&w illustrations, bibliography. Cloth slightly spot faded at upper edges, lower spine and corners lightly rubbed, otherwise a tight and bright VG + copy in near VG dustjacket (panels lightly rubbed - a few creases around the edges, not price clipped). (33146) SOLD
Noel Cobb, Prospero's Island. The Secret Alchemy at the Heart of the Tempest. London: Coventure, 1984. First Edition. Softcover. 8vo. 224 pp. b&w illustrations, appendixes. Biblio and index. The author, a Jungian, looks at alchemical themes and archetypes of transformation in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Covers lightly rubbed with a few light bumps to edges, otherwise Near fine condition inside and out. (33100) SOLD
[Contantine of Pisa] Introduction etc. by Barbara Obrist, Constantine of Pisa: The Book of the Secrets of Alchemy. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1990. First Edition thus. Hardcover, large 8vo, x + 340 pp. Original maroon cloth with gilt title, etc. to spine and front cover, blind rules, b&w illustrations, index. A scholarly edition of the thirteenth century alchemical work Liber Secretorum Alchimie, by Constantine of Pisa, with the original Latin text, translation, and notes. Faint shelf dust, otherwise Fine condition inside and out. No dust jacket issued. (33103) Please check our website for current availability.
Keith Critchlow, Time Stands Still. New Light on Megalithic Science. London: Gordon Fraser, 1979. First Edition. Hardcover. 4to. 192 pp. Original black cloth with silvered titling to upper board and spine. Appendixes, index. Colour photos by Rod Bull. A study of the sacred geometry and science of the ancient megalith builders. Faint shelf dust and very faint spotting to page edges, paper very slightly darkened at outer margins. Otherwise a tight and bright, unmarked Near fine copy in lightly chafed VG+ dust jacket. (33131) Please check our website for current availability.
Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal to Which is now added Upwards of One Hundred Additional Herbs.... with a display of their Medicinal and Occult Qualities; Physically applied to The Cure of All Disorders Incident to Mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English Physician Enlarged, and Key to Physic, with Rules for Compounding Medicine According to the True System of Nature; Forming a Complete Family Dispensatory, and Natural System of Physic...... to which is also added Upwards of Fifty Choice Receipts, selected from the Author's latest legacy to his wife. A new edition, with a list of the principal diseases to which the human body is liable, and a General Index. 
Illustrated by Engravings of numerous British Herbs and Plants, correctly coloured from nature. London: Thomas Kelly, 1835. New Edition. Hardcover. Large 4to. vi + 402 pp. Contemporary calf, gilt titled spine label, frontis, 16 (of 20) pages of hand colored plates, index. Spine chafed and spine label chipped at upper edge. Professionally rebacked with original boards preserved. New spine, blind stamped with gilt rules and title. Boards chafed; rubbed at all edges, corners and spine ends with some loss. Clearly a working copy at some early time - pages well thumbed, paper browned, somewhat grubby and foxed in places, some tears and chips to edges. Title page torn with some chipping, repaired. Lacking plate nos. 2, 5, 11 and 14. Plate no. 9 torn horizontally from outer to inner margin. Some pencil marks to a few plates, marks to endpapers. Still a solid, textually complete early copy of this important work. (33245) SOLD
Allen G. Debus, Science and Education in the Seventeenth Century. The Webster - Ward Debate. London: MacDonald, 1970. First edition. Hardcover. 8vo. (ii) + 308 pp. Green cloth with gilt titling to spine. A collection of the texts generated in the Webster-Ward debate over the value of observation and experiment as opposed to acceptance of the authority of the ancients in University scholarship. With a number of Introductory chapters, including one on "The Paracelsians and Educational Reform." Cloth mottled, otherwise a sound and unmarked VG + copy in VG- dust jacket. (Dust jacket spine darkened, panels chafed, edges lightly rubbed, price clipped) (33150) Please check our website for current availability.
J. Van Den Berg and Ernestine G.E. Van Der Wall, Editors, Jewish-Christian Relations in the Seventeenth Century. Studies and Documents, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988. First Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. x + 210 pp. Forest green cloth with gilt titling to spine, notes and index. International Archives of the History of Ideas, 119. This book obviously got to close to the alchemist's burner, and it has been scorched along the fore-edge, although ingeniously repaired by almost invisibly narrowing the boards by a quarter of an inch, and cropping the fore-edge margin (this has been done with no loss to the text itself, although a few letters are lacking from the Library of Congress data etc. on the verso of the title page). Rear board darkened at upper and fore-edge, final 50 leaves and rear endpaper scorched - browned - at outer edges (sounds worse than it is), page edges discolored, otherwise a tight and unmarked VG copy in near VG dust jacket. (Dust jacket scorched and browned at upper edge of rear panel, otherwise slightly grubby, inner flaps nearly tape reinforced). Again, this description actually makes the book sound far worse than it is - overall it is quite a nice clean copy, save for the light browning. (33156) Please check our website for current availability.
Stanislas Klossowski De Rola, Introduces etc. The Golden Game. Alchemical Engravings of the Seventeenth Century. London: Thames and Hudson, 1988. First edition. Hardcover. 4to, 320 pp. Original red cloth, gilt title, etc., to spine, gilt emblem on front cover. Includes 533 illustrations reproducing the most famous alchemical engravings of the seventeenth century, including those of Heinrich Khunrath, Michael Maier, "Mylius", and Jacob Boehme. Just a hint of shelf dust, otherwise Fine condition in very lightly rubbed, Near fine dust jacket. (33152) SOLD
B. J. T. Dobbs, The Foundations of Newton's Alchemy or, 'The Hunting of the Greene Lyon.' Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1975. First edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. xvi + 300 pp. Bright yellow cloth with gilt titling to black spine label, b&w illustrations, index. An extensive study, largely drawn from original sources, that highlights the importance of alchemical study and practice in every aspect of Newton's life. Light colored cloth very slightly soiled, lower spine bumped and rubbed, lower edges rubbed, top edge dusty. Still, a sound and unmarked VG+ copy in VG+ dust jacket. (Dust jacket panels lightly chafed, edges faintly rubbed, not price clipped). (33143) Please check our website for current availability.
B. J. T. Dobbs, The Janus Faces of Genius. The Role of Alchemy in Newton's Thought. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1991. First edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. xii + 360 pp. Original black cloth with copper titling to spine, b&w illustrations, appendices, biblio and index. A significant reevaluation of the intellectual life of Isaac Newton, in which the author seeks to demonstrate that Newton's scientific work was inextricably intertwined with his study of alchemy. Faint shelf dust otherwise Fine condition in lightly rubbed Near fine dust jacket. (33144) Please check our website for current availability.
William Eamon, The Science and the Secrets of Nature. Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994. First Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. xvi + 490 pp. Green cloth with gilt titling to spine, b&w illustrations, notes, bibliography and index. "By explaining how to sire multicolored horses, produce nuts without shells, and create an egg the size of a human head, Giambattista Della Porta's Natural Magic (1559) conveys a fascination with tricks and illusions that makes it a work difficult for historians of science to take seriously. Yet, according to William Eamon, it is in the "how-to" books written by medieval alchemists, magicians, and artisans that modern science has its roots. These compilations of recipes on everything from parlor tricks through medical remedies to wool-dyeing fascinated medieval intellectuals because they promised access to esoteric "secrets of nature." In closely examining this rich but little-known source of literature, Eamon reveals that printing technology and popular culture had as great, if not stronger, an impact on early modern science as did the traditional academic disciplines." Light rubbing to lower edges, page edges dusty otherwise a sound and bright Near fine copy in lightly rubbed Near fine dust jacket. (33086) Please check our website for current availability.
Regine Frey-Jaun, Die Berufung des Türhüters Zur Chymischen Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz von Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1654) . Bern: Peter Lang, 1989. First Edition. Softcover. 8vo. 200pp. Printed card covers. Bibliography. German text. Deutsche Literature von den Anfangen bis 1700. A literary-historical study of the 'Chemical Wedding,' concentrating on its structure and relationship to other literary works of the period. Light chafing to covers, lower spine lightly bumped, otherwise sound and unmarked. Near fine condition. (33607) Please check our website for current availability.
Fulcanelli, Translated by Mary Sworder, Preface by Eugene Canseliet, Introduction by Walter Lang. Le Mystère des Cathédrales. Esoteric Interpretation of the Hermetic Symbols of the Great Work. London: Neville Spearman, 1971. First Edition. Hardcover, large 8vo, 192 pp. Original plum cloth with gilt title, etc. to spine, frontis, illustrations, color and b& w plates, index. The identity of the master alchemist who wrote under the pseudonym of Fulcanelli remains a mystery, but he is commonly regarded as one of the few genuine alchemical practitioners of the twentieth century's, and perhaps one of the few ever to succeed in accomplishing the Great Work. This particular work is his study of the hermetic instruction he felt was embodied in the structure of Gothic cathedrals. Light shelf dust, lower edge lightly rubbed, otherwise a sound and unmarked Near fine copy in VG dust jacket (Dust jacket lightly chafed, rubbed at edges, not price clipped). (33145) Please check our website for current availability.
[Fulcanelli] Kenneth Rayner Johnson, The Fulcanelli Phenomenon (The Story of a Twentieth-Century Alchemist in the light of a new examination of the Hermetic Tradition) . Jersey: Neville Spearman , 1980. First edition. Hardcover, 8vo. x + 324pp. Original red cloth with gilt tilting to spine, b&w illustrations, Appendices, bibliography. A study of the master alchemist who wrote under the pseudonym of Fulcanelli. Includes a chapter by Paul Mevryl, a lont time student of alchemy and of Fulcanelli, in which he rexamines 'The Cyclic Cross of Hendaye' (which was the subject of the penultimate chapter of Le Mystère des Cathédrales). Cloth faintly darkened at edges, light shelf dust, otherwise Near fine condition in VG dust jacket (Just a little light chafing to the edges, a few tiny chips and one inch closed tears, not clipped). (33137) Please check our website for current availability.
Matila Ghyka, The Geometry of Art and Life. New York : Dover Publications, 1977. Corrected edition. Softcover. small 8vo. xvii + 174 pp +17 pp publisher's catalog. A modern reissue of Ghyka's extraordinary study of space and form. Covers lightly rubbed at edges with some light creasing to spine and corners, otherwise a sound and unmarked VG copy. (33136) Please check our website for current availability.
Matila Ghyka, A Practical Handbook Geometrical Composition and Design. London: Alec Tiranti Ltd., 1964. Third Edition. Hardcover. small 8vo. 48 pp + xvi plates. Printed papered boards, b&w plates and line drawings throughout text. An early edition of this important study of the mathematic of esthetics and the role of space and proportion in nature and art by the remarkable polymath Professor Matila Ghyka. Boards lightly rubbed at all edges, erasure on first blank, otherwise a tight and unmarked VG+ copy in VG dust jacket. (Dust jacket lightly chafed at edges and corners with some light chipping, price clipped). (33135) Please check our website for current availability.
Peter Gorman, Pythagoras. A Life. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979. First Edition. Hardcover, 8vo, 216pp. Brown cloth with gilt title etc to spine, selected bibliography, index. A study of Pythagoras as a mathematician and scientist, poet and mystic. A tight and clean copy in Near fine condition. (VG+ dust jacket lightly rubbed, retail price sticker on inner flap over publisher's price) (33119) Please check our website for current availability.
William T. Gorski, Yeats and Alchemy. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1996. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. xvi + 224 pp. Printed papered boards, notes, bibliography and index. An interesting study in which the author uses and extensive variety of material - some unpublished - to highlight the importance of alchemy in the work of W. B. Yeats. Near fine condition. No dust jacket issued. (33088) Please check our website for current availability.
Alastair Hamilton, Heresy and Mysticism in Sixteenth-Century Spain: The Alumbrados. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co., 1992. First Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. iv +156 pp. Deep red cloth with gilt letting to spine, map, notes and index. The alumbrados were adherents of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries who believed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit . Drawn largely from the records of the Inquisition, this is the "first study in English to survey all the different alumbrado movements between 1510 and 1630, it also touches on such major events in Spanish ecclesiastical history as the reception of the writings of Erasmus, the rise of the Jesuits, and the first reactions to the writings of mystics such as St Teresa of Avila." Just a hint of shelf dust and rubbing, otherwise Fine in lightly rubbed Near fine dust jacket. (33085) SOLD
Devon L. Hodges, Renaissance Fictions of Anatomy. Amherst, MA: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1985. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. 154 pp. Green cloth with gilt titling to spine, notes, list of works cited, index. A study of 'anatomies' - not of the medical sort, but of the literary genre popular in Renaissance England (as in Lyly's Euphues: Anatomy of Wit, Nashe's Anatomy of Absurdity, etc.). Very light shelf dust, otherwise Fine condition with Near fine dust jacket. (Dust jacket lightly chafed). (33122) Please check our website for current availability.
Ernestus Howald and Henricus E. Sigerist. Corpus Medicorum Latinorum editum Consilio Et Avcroritate Institiuti Puschmanniani Lipsiensis. Vol. IV Antonii Musae De Herba Vettonica Liber - Pseudoapulei Herbarius - Anonymi De Taxone Liber - Sexti Placiti Liber Medicinae Ex Animalibus etc. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1927. Softcover. large 8vo. xxvi + 348pp. Original printed wrappers, illustrated in black and white, fold-out, index and corrections at rear. The standard edition in Latin of this collection of herbals. The collection comprises the text, plus illustrations, of a number of works: the 'Medicina de Quadrupedibus' of Sextus Placitus Papyriensis (Sexti Placiti Liber Medicinae Ex Animalibus), the 'Herbarium' of the pseudo Apuleius, 'De Herba Vettonica' attributed to Antonius Musa, 'De Taxone Liber, ' and other shorter works commonly found together in medical herbals of the Middle Ages. Fragile wrappers rubbed at edges, spine ends and edges lightly chipped, outer margins and spine sunned. Upper cover partly detached, bookplate and bibliographic reference on inside front cover. Paper very slightly browned, but text pages bright and unmarked. Overall a clean and sound VG copy. Quite scarce. (33624) Please check our website for current availability.
Lisa Jardine, Ingenious Pursuits. Building the Scientific Revolution. London: Little, Brown and Company, 1999. First Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. xx + 444 pp. Maroon cloth with gilt titling to spine, printed endpapers, b&w illustrations, notes, further reading and index. An entertaining history of the unfolding of the scientific revolution which shaped modern thought, with much on its less-likely and largely-unsung heroes. Faint shelf dust, otherwise Near fine condition in lightly chafed Near fine dust jacket. (33130) Please check our website for current availability.
Edward Kelly, Edited etc. by Arthur Edward Waite. The Alchemical Writings of Edward Kelly. The Englishman's Excellent Treatises on the Philosopher's Stone, together with The Theatre of Terrestrial Astronomy. London: Stuart & Watkins, 1970. Second Impression. Hardcover. 8vo. lxviii + 1564pp. Original black cloth with gilt title to spine and device to upper board, index. Translated from the Hamburg Edition of 1676 and edited with a Biographical Preface. Second Impression of the Watkins Edition: limited to 500 copies. Edward Kelly (1555-1595) is more widely remembered for his role as John Dee's 'skryer' than as an alchemist, and there is some uncertainty as to whether he actually authored the works here attributed to him. (Gilbert B 11). Boards have very slight spotting to fore-edges, top edge dusty, otherwise a tight, bright Near-fine copy in VG dust jacket. (Dust jacket spine a bit faded, lightly rubbed at edges with a few creases and tiny chips, not clipped). Scarce. (33192) Please check our website for current availability.
Andrew Kent, With a foreword by J. W. Cook, An Eighteenth Century Lectureship in Chemistry, Essays and Bicentenary Addresses relating to the Chemistry Department of Glasgow University. Glasgow, UK: Jackson, Son & Company, Publishers to the University, 1950. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. xvi + 2 plates + 234 pp. Maroon cloth with gilt titling to spine, b&w plates, author-index and subject-index. Essays, largely biographical, on the noteables including Wiliam Cullen, Joseph Black, John Robison, and others who held the Lectureship in Chemistry at Glasgow University in the latter half ot the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Lower rear corner bumped, light shelf dust and foxing to page edges, otherwise a tight and bright Near fine copy in VG dust jacket. (Dust jacket panels a bit chafed, lightly rubbed at edges). (33132) Please check our website for current availability.
Jacques LaCarriere, Foreword by Lawrence Durrell, Translated from the French by Nina Rootes. The Gnostics. London: Peter Owen, 1977. First English language edition. Hardcover. small 8vo. 136 pp. Cream cloth with gilt titling to spine, index. An intriguing work, termed by Durrell 'a sort of poetic meditation on the vanished Gnostics of Egypt ..... a convincing reconstruction of the way the Gnostics lived and thought.' A few light smudges to cloth, lower front corner bumped, bookshop sticker on rear endpaper, otherwise and sound and bright VG+ copy. No dust jacket. (33148) Please check our website for current availability.
Lapidus, Edited etc. by Stephen Skinner. In Pursuit Of Gold. Alchemy Today In Theory And Practice. London: Neville Spearman, 1976. First UK Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. 176 pp, Quarter brown cloth w/ beige papered boards, gilt title, etc. to spine, 25 illustrations from Atalanta Fugiens. An unusual and detailed account of physical alchemy, written by a practicising modern-day alchemist. This copy is almost an artwork: if anyone wanted an image of a well-used book from the library of a practicing alchemist it would be impossible to beat this: in fact it would take an enormous amount of effort to recreate its look. The first blank has a rough pencil sketch of a bird (Phoenix?) below which are a number of pencil notes on chemicals and alchemical compounds. The book itself has obviously been heavily used: the boards chafed and rubbed at all edges, lower edge reinforced with old cello tape, upper edge browned. The pages are quite yellowed/browned, particularly at the edges, most likely by exposure to some chemical compound, as well as scorching. A few pages are underlined, and some have been reinforced at the inner margins with cello tape. Still the text, though discolored, is largely unmarked and the copy perfectly readable, although it would rate only as Fair condition in fair dust jacket. (Dust jacket heavily worn, tape reinforced, browned). Better than a reading copy of this scarce title. (33158) SOLD
Lapidus (Additions and Extractions by Stephen Skinner). In Pursuit Of Gold. Alchemy Today In Theory And Practice. London: Neville Spearman, 1976. First UK Edition. Hardcover, large 8vo, 176 pp, Quarter brown cloth w/ beige papered boards, gilt title, etc. to spine, 25 illustrations from Atalanta Fugiens. An unusual and detailed account of physical alchemy, written by a practicising modern-day alchemist. Boards lightly chafed, corners and spine ends bumped and lightly rubbed, a few light bumps to upper edge, top edge dusty, page edges lightly thumbed, otherwise a VG+ copy. Lacking dust jacket. (33092) Please check our website for current availability.
[Andreas Libavius]. Die Alchemie des Andreas Libavius. Ein Lehrbuch der Chemie aus dem Jahre 1597. Zum ersten Mal in deutscher Übersetzung mit einem Bild- und Kommentarteil. Weinheim: Verlag Chemie, 1964. First Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. (x),(xxxviii), 564 pp,(xx), 136 pp. German text. Original beige patterned cloth with titling to upper board and spine, b&w illustrations, errata slip at title page, frontis, b&w illustrations. Andreas Libavius (1555 - 1616) German doctor and alchemist, worked first as a teacher before attaining his professorship in Jena in 1586. In contrast to many of his fellow alchemists, Libavius believed in sharing the fruits of scholarly research, especially as he felt that the lessons and products of alchemy could be great benefit to physicians. In 1597 he published, in Latin, his Alchemia (Alchemy), a compendious volume in which he attempted to summarise the researches and discoveries of the alchemists to date. The book is divided into four main parts - the first three of which would now largely be characterised as 'Chemistry' rather than 'Alchemy.' The fourth part, however, is most definitely what is now regarded as alchemy, with much on transmutation, etc. This is the first German translation of monumental work, and includes many facsimiles of original pages, parallel texts, as well as critical commentary, footnotes, plates, etc. Herausgegeben vom Gmelin-Institut für Anorganische Chemie und Grenzgebiete in der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften. In Verbindung mit der Gesellschaft deutscher Chemiker Frankfurt am Main.
Very light rubbing to edges, a few finger marks to page edges and margins, otherwise a tight, clean Near fine copy in original sturdy cardboard slipcase. (VG slipcase is rubbed at edges, quite sound). (33160) Please check our website for current availability.
Stanton J. Linden, Darke Hierogliphicks. Alchemy in English Literature from Chaucer to the Restoration. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1996. First Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. 374 pp. Original black cloth with silver titling to spine, notes, bibliography and index. A comprehensive survey of the influence of alchemy and hermetica on English literature, from the late Middle Ages through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Faint spot to page fore-edge, otherwise a sound and bright copy. Fine condition in faintly rubbed Near fine dust jacket. (33120) Please check our website for current availability.
Jack Lindsay, Blast Power & Ballistics. Concepts of Force and Energy in the Ancient World. London: Frederick Muller Ltd., 1974. First edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. 510 pp. Black cloth with gilt titling to spine, notes, biblio and index. Faint rubbing to lower edges and light bruising to lower spine, otherwise a tight and bright Near fine copy in VG+ dust jacket. (Dust jacket lightly chafed, price clipped). (33118) Please check our website for current availability.
Michael Maier, trans. etc. by H. M. E. De Jong, Atalanta Fugiens. Sources of an Alchemical Book of Emblems. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1969. First Edition Thus. Hardcover, 8 vo., xiv + 462 pp. Black cloth with gilt titling to upper board and spine, 82 b&w illustrations & fold-out, index. The First Edition of Maier's classic study of Atalanta Fugiens. "Atalanta Fugiens expresses the science of the alchemists and how it conveys a world of feeling and thought in which macrocosm and microcosm, gold and lead, and the human soul and the alchemical alembic are demonstrated." (De Jong) . Janus. Revenue Internationale de L'Histoire Des Sciences, de la Médecine, de la Pharmacie et de la Technique. Suppléments. Volume VIII. Light shelf dust and rubbing to edges, very light bumping to corners and spine ends, mylar jacket previously affixed to endpapers leaving a light tape mark, light crease to upper corner of text pages. Overall a sound and bright VG+ copy in mylar jacket. (33095) Please check our website for current availability.
Ramon G. Mendoza, The Acentric Labyrinth. Giordano Bruno's Prelude to Contemporary Cosmology. Dorset: Element, 1995. First Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. xxiv + 292 pp. Original navy cloth with gilt titling to spine, notes, glossary, bibliography and index. A reassessment of Bruno's scienfitic and philosophical thought. Just a hint of light shelf dust, fore-edge bumped resulting in a light crease to a number of pages, otherwise a sound and bright VG+ copy in Near fine dust jacket. (Dust jacket has a half inch tear rear upper edge). (33106) Please check our website for current availability.
William R. Newman, Gehennical Fire. The Lives of George Starkey, an American Alchemist in the Scientific Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. xiv + 348 pp. Original navy cloth with gilt titling etc to spine. Frontis. b&w illustrations, notes and index. A significant new biographical study of Starkey ('Eirenaeus Philalethes') the New England alchemist. A few spots to upper board which appear to be slight flaws in the cloth, a few light creases to page edge, otherwise Near fine in Near fine dust jacket. (Dust jacket lightly chafed, not clipped). (33108) Please check our website for current availability.
Charles Nicholl, The Chemical Theatre. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980. First edition. Hardcover. 8vo. x + 292 pp. Black cloth with gilt title, etc. to spine, index, b&w illustrations, notes, biblio and index. A study of the literary conception of alchemy at the beginning of the 1600s, and particularly of the alchemical themes and symbols that can be found in the works of Shakespeare. Some chafing to cloth on upper board, a few light crease to pages, light spotting to fore-edge, otherwise sound and bright inside and out. VG + in VG+ dust jacket. (Dust jacket very slightly rubbed at edges, price clipped). (33094) Please check our website for current availability.
Charles Nicholl, The Reckoning. The Murder of Christopher Marlowe. London: Jonathan Cape, 1992. First Edition. Hardcover, 8vo. (x) + 414pp. Blue cloth with gilt titling to spine, printed endpapers, color frontis, b&w illustrations, notes, list of sources, index. An amazing piece of historical detective-work exploring the murder of the controversial Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe. Light rubbing and shelf dust, otherwise Near fine in lightly rubbed Near fine dust jacket. (33147) Please check our website for current availability.
H. B. Nisbet, Goethe and the Scientific Tradition, London: University of London, 1972. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. xii +84 pp. Green cloth with gilt titling to spine, bibliography, index of names. A study of the traditions: Neo-Platonic, Empirical and Rationalistic, which helped shape Goethe's scientific investigations. Publications of the Institute of Germanic Studies, Volume 14. Fine condition. No dust jacket - likely as issued. (33134) Please check our website for current availability.
Martha Ornstein, The Role of Scientific Societies in the Seventeenth Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938. Third edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. xviii + 308 pp + 1 pp adverts. Black cloth spine with gilt titled grey papered boards, gilt titling to spine, b&w illus., index. An important work on the history of science and medicine. As the title suggests its focus is on the creaction of learned societies and scientific journals, but it also has short biographical essays on significant figures in the world of seventeenth century science, including Van Helmont and Bacon. Corners bumped and rubbed, spine ends lightly bruised, previous owner's name etc in pencil, paper yellowing at outer margins, otherwise a tight and unmarked VG+ copy in Good dust jacket. (Dust jacket a bit ragged and chipped at all edges, darkened at spine and fore-edge, not price clipped). (33133) Please check our website for current availability.
Raphael Patai, The Jewish Alchemists. A History and Sourcebook. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994. First Edition. Hardcover, 8 vo, xvi + 618 pp, Black publisher's cloth, gilt title, etc. to spine, illustrations, notes and index. The first major study of Jewish alchemical study and practice - from antiquitiy to the nineteenth century. With a related letter from a bookseller to Robert Lenkiewicz loosely inserted. Spine ends very lightly bruised, light shelf dust - otherwise Near fine in Near fine dust jacket. (Dust jacket has just a hint of chafing). (33105) Please check our website for current availability.
Antoine-Joseph Pernety, (Edited by Edouard Blitz). An Alchemical Treatise On The Great Art. New York: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1973. Reprint. Hardcover. 8vo. 256 pp. Red cloth with gilt title etc, Alchemical characters, alphabetical index. The first reprinting of a work attributed to Pernety, that was originally published in Boston in 1898 under the title Treatise on the Great Art. Cloth a bit mottled, light rubbing to edges otherwise a tight and internally bright VG+ copy in VG+ dustjacket. (Dust jacket a bit rubbed at edges, spine ends lightly creased, not clipped) (33093) Please check our website for current availability.
[Plato] Translated by Thomas Taylor, Foreword by R. Catesby Taliaferro. Plato. The Timæus and The Critias or Atlanticus. Washington D.C.: Pantheon Books, 1952. Second Printing. Harccover, 8 vo., 450 pp. Privately bound in quarter leather with marbled boards, raised bands and leather spine label with gold titling. Bollingen series III. The Bollingen edition of Thomas Taylor's translation of the Timaeus and Critias. Boards chafed, all edges rubbed exposing original cloth at lower edges, some light pencil to text. Still, overall a sound, better than Good copy. No dust jacket. (33631) Please check our website for current availability.
G. Quispel, edits Hermes Trismegistus. Asclepius. De Volkomen Openbaring van Hermes Trismegistus. Amsterdam: Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, 1996. First Edition. Hardcover. 4to. 306 pp. Orginal rust cloth with blind stamped title and tipped on illustration to upper board, black titling to spine, frontis, bibliography. A Dutch translation, with notes, of the Asclepius of Hermes Trismegistus. Fine condition in lightly rubbed Near fine dust jacket. (33112) Please check our website for current availability.
G. Quispel, edits Corpus Hermeticum. Amsterdam: Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, 1996. First Edition. Hardcover. 4to. 206 pp. Orginal rust cloth with blind stamped title and tipped on colour illustration to upper board, black titling to spine, colour frontis. A new Dutch-language translation of the Corpus Hermeticum. Fine condition in Near fine dust jacket. (Dust jacket lightly rubbed with a few light spots) (33113) Please check our website for current availability.
Alice Raphael, Goethe & the Philosopher's Stone. Symbolical Patters In 'The Parable' And The Second Part Of 'Faust'. London: Routledge And Kegan Paul, 1965. First Edition. Hardcover, 8vo. xiv +274 pp. Navy cloth with gilt titling, b&w plates and illustrations, index. A study of the concealed meanings, alchemical references, etc., in the somewhat obscure second part of 'Faust' by a student of Jung's. About half-a-dozen scraps of paper with Lenkiewicz's notes etc. are interleaved throughout the book. Ex-library copy with all faults. Upper board impressed with Library seal, remains of library tag on front end paper, lacking title page, boards lightly rubbed and bumped at all edges, page edges a bit grubby and thumbed. Still a sound and unmarked better than Good copy in Good dust jacket. (Dust jacket chafed and rubbed, a bit soiled). (33109) SOLD
Piyo Rattansi, and Antonio Clericuzio (Editors). Alchemy and Chemistry in the 16th and 17th Centuries, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994. First Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. xvi + 208 pp + 8 pp publisher's catalog. Green cloth with gilt titling to spine, index. "The studies of sixteenth and seventeenth-century alchemy published in this volume were first presented as papers at a colloquium on Alchemy and Chemistry' held at the Warburg Institute in 1989. The aim of the colloquium was to examine alchemy not as a self-contained tradition, but as an activity intimately connected with chemistry, medicine, philosophy and religion. The wide range of topics discussed by the different contributors shows clearly that a true understanding of alchemical texts demands that they be considered not only as a component of the pre-history of experimental science, but as manifestations of the very different forms of religious belief and philosophical views of nature held by the alchemists." International Archives of the History of Ideas, 140 . Fine in Near fine dust jacket. (Dust jacket lightly chafed with a half inch tear at upper corner) (33097) Please check our website for current availability.
John Read, Humour And Humanism In Chemistry. London: G. Bell and Sons Ltd., 1947. First edition. Hardcover, 8vo, xxiv + 388 pp, Original blue cloth, gilt title, etc. to spine, color frontis, illustrations. A broad ranging scholarly study, written with wit and humour. Much material on alchemy and hermetics, including a chapter with the unlikely sounding title 'The Lighter Side of Alchemy.' Very light rubbing to edges, bumping to lower spine, otherwise a bright and unmarked Near fine copy with the remains of the dust jacket tucked at rear. (Panels and inner flaps present by separated, quite ragged). (33178) Please check our website for current availability.
Jacques Sadoul, (Translated by Olga Sieveking ). Alchemists and Gold. The Story of Alchemy through the Ages. London: Neville Spearman, 1972. First UK edition. ISBN: 85435 131 0. Hardcover, 8vo, 286 pp. Black cloth with gilt title, etc. to spine, illustrations appendix, glossary and index. A popular history: from Hermes Trismegistus to Fulcanelli. Upper edges lightly faded, very light shelf dust, faint foxing to endpapers, otherwise a Near fine copy in a VG+ dust jacket. (Light rubbing to jacket, not price clipped). (33104) Please check our website for current availability.
George Sarton, A History of Science. Ancient Science Through the Golden Age of Greece. London: Oxford University Press, 1953. First Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. xxvi + 646 pp. Blue cloth with gilt title etc to spine, b&w illustrations, index. Long one of the standard histories of the development of the sciences in the ancient world. Chapters on Egypt and Mesopotamia, but the major focus is on Greece. Cloth a bit chafed, corners and spine ends rubbed, page edges and endpapers lightly browned. Overall, a sound and unmarked VG+ copy. No dust jacket. (33159) Please check our website for current availability.
Pamela H. Smith, The Business of Alchemy. Science and Culture in the Holy Roman Empire. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. 308 pp. Black cloth with gilt titling to spine, b&w illustrations, bibliography and index. "Pamela Smith explores the relationships among alchemy, the court, and commerce in order to illuminate the cultural history of the Holy Roman Empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries," in particular by following the career of Joachim Becher (1635-1682 . Just a hint of shelf dust - otherwise Fine condition in lightly rubbed near fine dust jacket. (33121) Please check our website for current availability.
Michael R. G. Spiller, "Concerning Natural and Experimental Philosophie". Meric Casaubon and the Royal Society. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1980. First Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. vi + 232 pp + 10 pp publisher's catalog. Green cloth with gilt titling to spine, bibio and index. The first scholarly account of Meric Causabon (1599-1671), his thought, and in particularly his opposition to the Royal Society and the 'new science' it seemed to represent. Amongst many claims to fame, Casaubon was of course the editor of Dee's 'True and Faithful Relation ...' (International Archives of the History of Ideas, 94). Fine in Near fine dust jacket. (Dust jacket lightly chafed) (33098) Please check our website for current availability.
R. D. Stock, The Holy and Daemonic from Sir Thomas Browne to William Blake. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo 396 pp. Original oatmeal cloth with gilt titling to black spine label, b&w illustrations, index. "In a challenge to the received version of the Enlightenment, R. D. Stock sets out show that numinous religious experience, usually classified as non-rational, persists in significant writing of that period commonly called the Age of Reason. ... A substantial chapter investigates the controversies over witchcraft and miracles (especially daemonic possession) in Restoration and eighteenth-century England. Faint shelf dust - otherwise Fine in Near fine dust jacket. (Dust jacket is lightly chafed, not clipped). (33128) SOLD
Zbigniew Szydlo, Water Which Does Not Wet the Hands. The Alchemy of Michael Sendivogius. Warsaw: Polish Academy of Sciences, 1994. First Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo. xiv + 300 pp. Pale yellow cloth with black titling to upper board and spine, b&w illustrations, appendices, biblio and index. An unusual study of the Polish Alchemist Michael Sendivogius (1566-1636). Includes a number of important Appendices, with summaries and texts of previously untranslated works by Sendivogius, as well as a bibliographical survey. Very light shelf dust, lower corners lightly bumped, otherwise Near fine condition in Near fine dust jacket. (Dust jacket very lightly chafed). Quite scarce. (33124) Please check our website for current availability.
Thomas Taylor, Translator, Introductory Preface by Manly P. Hall. Hymns of Orpheus. Translated from the Original Greek with a Preliminary Dissertation on The Life and Theology of Orpheus. To which is added the essay of Plotinus Concerning the Beautiful. Los Angeles, CA: Philosophical Research Society, 1981. Reprint. Hardcover, 8vo. Not paginated (approx. 308 pp). Original brown textured cloth with gilt rules and titling to spine, frontis. Facsimile Reprint of the original English edition of 1792, limited to 1,000 copies. Just a hint of shelf rubbing, light foxing and dust to page edges, bookplate - otherwise a sound and bright, unmarked copy. VG+ in same dust jacket. (Dust jacket spine a bit faded, lightly rubbed at edges). (33608) SOLD
C. J. S. Thompson, The Lure And Romance Of Alchemy. New York, NY: Bell Publishing Company, 1990. Reprint. Hardcover. 8vo. 250 pp. Black cloth with gilt title, etc. to spine, b/w illustrations, index. A recent reprint of one of the better researched and illustrated popular histories of alchemy. Its author, C. J. S. Thompson (1862-1943), was in charge of acquisitions for Henry Wellcome, and thus had access to what would become the library of the Wellcome Institute, one of the great collections medical, alchemical, and related books and manuscripts in the world. Page edges slightly dusty and spotted, otherwise Near fine in lightly rubbed VG+ dust jacket. (33115) Please check our website for current availability.
C. J. S. Thompson, The Lure and Romance Of Alchemy. London: George G. Harrap & Company Ltd., 1932. First edition. Hardcover. 8vo. 250 pp. Blind stamped navy pebbled cloth (giving a faux leather effect), gilt titling and embellishments to spine, coloured top edge, frontis, b&w illustrations, index. One of the better researched and illustrated popular histories of alchemy. Its author, C. J. S. Thompson (1862-1943), was in charge of acquisitions for Henry Wellcome, and thus had access to what would become the library of the Wellcome Institute, one of the great collections medical, alchemical, and related books and manuscripts in the world. Cloth very slightly darkened at edges corners and spine ends lightly bruised and rubbed, tiny penned date and owner's name on front endpaper, paper a bit browned at margins with a few very light spots. Still, a sound and unmarked better than VG copy. No dust jacket. (33597) Please check our website for current availability.
D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, On Growth and Form. Cambridge: University Press, 1948. New Edition. Hardcover. large 8vo.(iv) 1116 pp. Red cloth with gilt titling to spine. b&w frontis, plates and in-text illustrations. Index. A major work on biology and natural science by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1860-1948). Essentially a study of the development of organic form, Thompson proposed a "theory of transformation" that saw evolutionary development of a species happening not by a series of piecemeal changes, but by large-scale transformations. Spine sunned and slightly discoloured at edge, boards lightly chafed at all edges, previous owner's name, paper lightly browned. Overall a sound and unmarked VG copy without dust jacket. (33163) SOLD
E. Francis Udny, Later Incarnations of Francis Bacon. London: Edson Printers Ltd., 1926. First Edition Thus. Softcover. small 8vo. 24 pp. Printed stapled wrappers, b&w illustrations. A separately published extract from the second edition of The Original Christianity. The author suggests that Viscount Bacon attained a form of immortality, and was reborn as Francis Rakoczi II, and later the Comte. de Saint Germain. Quite scarce. Front cover lightly creased and marked, all else VG+. (11238) Please check our website for current availability.
[Various]. Hermes Trismegistus Pater Philosophorum. Tekstgeschiedenis van het Corpus Hermeticum (Tentoonstelling in de Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica) . Amsterdam: Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, 1990. First Edition. Softcover. 4to. xx+ 152 pp. Printed wrappers, illustrated. A large, attractively produced and well-illustrated catalog for an exhibition tracing the textual history of Hermes Trismegistus and the Corpus Hermeticum. Dutch language. Lightly bumped at upper spine otherwise Fine condition. (33114) Please check our website for current availability.
[Henry Vaughan,] Edited etc. by L. C. Martin, Henry Vaughan: Poetry and Selected Prose. London: Oxford University Press, 1963. First Edition Thus. Hardcover. 8vo. xviii + 470 pp. Navy cloth with gilt titling to spine and blind stamped emblem to upper board, colored top edge, index. A collection of the major works of Henry Vaughan (1622 - 1695) the Welsh metaphysical poet and brother of the hermetic philosopher and alchemist Thomas Vaughan. Faint shelf dust and fading to top edge, lower spine lightly bruised, previous owner's name, light creasing to upper corners of text, otherwise a tight and unmarked VG+ copy in VG+ dust jacket. (Dust jacket is lightly rubbed, price clipped) (33129) Please check our website for current availability.
Thomas Vaughan, edited by Arthur Edward Waite, The Works of Thomas Vaughan. Mystic and Alchemist. New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1968. First Edition Thus. Hardcover, large 8vo. lii + 498pp + 12pp of adverts. Gold textured papered boards, black title, etc. to spine, frontis, appendices, index. "The only collected edition of the Works of Thomas Vaughan (1621-1665), the English alchemist." First published in London in 1919, this is the first US edition, with a new introduction by Kenneth Rexroth. Fore-edge a little darkened in places, light shelfwear to boards, otherwise a sound VG+ copy in VG dust jacket. (Dust jacket a bit chafed and rubbed, a few creases to edges, not price clipped). (33117) SOLD
Arthur Edward Waite, Azoth, or The Star in the East. A New Light of Mysticism; Embracing the First Matter of the Magnum Opus, the Evolution of Aphrodite-Urania, the Supernatural Generation of the Son of the Sun, and the Alchemical Transfiguration of Humanity. London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1893. First edition. Hardcover, 4to, xvi + 240pp. Original decorated olive green cloth boards with bevelled edges, black titling to spine and upper board, appendices, index. Described by Waite as a "guide to spiritual alchemy," Azoth "was to be James Elliott's first publication, distributed by subscription. Lack of funds forced him, reluctantly, to transfer the book to The Theosophical Publishing Society, who had already approached Waite with a view to taking it over when their manager, Countess Wachmeister, received the prospectus. Why they wanted it remains a mystery, for it was unsympathetic to theosophical ideas ..." [Gilbert A11]. Cloth lightly chafed and darkened, lower corners bumped, corners and spine ends lightly rubbed, internals very clean. Overall a sound, internally bright VG+ copy. No dust jacket. (33151) Please check our website for current availability.
Arthur Edward Waite (Editor). The Hermetic Museum Restored and Enlarged: Most Faithfully Instructing All Disciples Of The Sopho-Spagyric Art How That Greatest And Truest Medicine Of The Philosopher's Stone May Be Found And Held. Now First Done into English From the Latin Original Published at Frankfort in the Year 1678. Containing Twenty-Two Most Celebrated Chemical Tracts. (2 volumes) London: Robinson and Watkins, 1973. Third Impression. Hardcovers. 2 Volumes. Small Quartos. xii + 358pp & viii + 322pp. Light blue cloth bindings with gilt titling to spine, b&w illustrations. Originally published in Latin in 1678, The Hermetic Museum was intended as a representative collection of the significant works of alchemy, many of which were rare even then. Waite edited and revised the text of an existing privately prepared translation into English, and first published this, also in an edition of 250 copies, in 1893. This is an exact photolithographic reprint of that edition. Cloth of both volumes very heavily faded (inexplicably so, really) otherwise a sound and internally bright VG+ set in VG dust jackets. (Dust jackets lightly rubbed at edges, a few short tears, not price clipped). (33102) Please check our website for current availability.
Arthur Edward Waite, The Real History of the Rosicrucians, London: George Redway, 1887. First Edition, later issue . Hardcover. 8vo. viii+ 446pp. Gray blue cloth with gilt title, etc. to spine, upper board stamped in black with Alchemical and Rosicrucian symbols, b&w illustrations, notes at rear. According to R.A. Gilbert, Waite wrote The Real History of the Rosicrucians to provide a balanced account of the subject, in contrast to the highly questionable, yet popular, The Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries, by Hargrave Jennings. Gilbert A5, binding variant f: apparently first edition sheets, but in a later issue binding [ circa 1910 ]. Cloth very faintly mottled at spine and edges of boards, spine ends and corners lightly rubbed, endpapers unevenly browned, very slight ripple to text block, otherwise a bright, attractive VG+ copy. (33616) Please check our website for current availability.
A. E. Waite, The Turba Philosophorum. Or Assembly Of The Sages. Called Also The Book Of Truth In The Art And The Third Pythagorical Synod An Ancient Alchemical Treatise Translated from the Latin, The Chief Readings of the Shorter Codex, Parallells from the Greek Alchemists, and Explanations of Obscure Terms. London: Stuart & Watkins, 1970. Second Edition. Hardcover, small 8vo, iv + 212 pp. Black cloth, gilt title, etc. to spine, gilt design on front cover, index. A facsimile reprint of the 1896 edition, limited to 500 copies. The Turba: "An Ancient Alchemical Treatise translated from the Latin, the chief readings of the shorter Codex, parallels from the Greek Alchemists, and explanations of obscure terms." Boards lightly chafed with a few very faint spots, edges dusty, a few notes on verso of rear free endpaper. Otherwise a sound and internally bright VG+ copy in Good dust jacket. (Dust jacket now in mylar a bit grubby and ragged with a number of half inch chips, not price clipped). (33194) Please check our website for current availability.
D. P. Walker, The Ancient Theology. Studies in Christian Platonism from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century. London: Duckworth, 1972. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo (iv) + 276 pp. Original brown cloth with gilt titling to spine, index. Ex - library with some markings. Light rubbing to edges, corners and spine ends, partially removed library check out sheet on front endpaper, library discard stamp on title page, front hinge neatly reinforced, previous owner's name, pen note on rear end paper, page edges lightly thumbed. Still, overall a clean VG copy. No dust jacket. (33125) Please check our website for current availability.
Alexander Wilder, New Platonism and Alchemy. A Sketch of the Doctrines and Principal Teachers of the Eclectic of the Alexandrian School; also an Outline of the Interior Doctrines of the Alchemists of the Middle Ages. Minneapolis, MN: Wizard's Bookshelf, 1975. Reprint. Softcover. 8vo, 32 pp, Printed stapled wrappers. Reprint of the 1869 edition of an unusual work by Wilder, a physician who in later life was a close friend of Blavatsky and Olcott. Light rubbing and slight crease to covers, otherwise Near fine condition inside and out. (33126) Please check our website for current availability.
Frances A. Yates, The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979. First edition. Hardcover, 8vo, x + 218 pp. Original maroon cloth with gilt title, etc. to spine, b&w illustrations, notes & index. Dame Frances Yates' classic study of occult philosophy during the Renaissance and Reformation, with a particular focus on the development of the 'Christian Cabala.' Top edge dusty, neat gift inscription and bookstore sticker on front end paper, otherwise VG+ condition in VG+ dust jacket. (Dust jacket lightly rubbed at edges, panels lightly chafed, price clipped). (33605) Please check our website for current availability.
Frances A. Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972. First Edition. Hardcover, 8vo, xvi + 270 pp. Green cloth with gilt title, etc. to spine, b&w frontis and illustrations, appendix, index. A nice First Edition of Dame Frances Yates' now-classic study. Cloth lightly faded at upper edge and spine, a few light signs of use, otherwise VG+ in VG+ dust jacket. (Light edge rubbing, price clipped). (33116) SOLD
Robert Lenkiewicz, Arthur Edward Waite, et al. Some Notes on Cremer and His Testament, and The Testament of Cremer, Abbot of Westminster, and Brother of the Benedictine Order. A hand-bound typescript, with two original India Ink sketches by Robert Lenkiewicz after old alchemical engravings. London. Hardcover. Octavo. 10 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches. Comprised of a 25 pages of typed text (typed in red and black on the rectos only), and one blank leaf each at front and rear, illustrations. A compilation of material on John Cremer, Abbot of Westminster and Benedictine monk, put together by artist, philosopher and alchemist Robert Lenkiewicz (1941-2002) . The first two pages appear to be Lenkiewicz' own typed notes on Cremer, followed by a five page typed copy of the section on Cremer in 'The Lives of the Alchemystical Philosophers.' There follows a blank, then a single page with a 20-line typed bibliographic history of the 'The Testament of Cremer,' telling that the text which follows is reproduced from Waite's edition of 'The Hermetic Museum.' A superbly detailed reproduction of a part of an illustration from 'Theatrum Chemicum Brittannicum has been hand-drawn by Lenkiewicz in Indian ink on the next page, below which are 8 lines of typed explanatory text. The next page has an 11 line typed description of the title-page of Cremer's 'Testament.' The page following that is the title-leaf prepared by Lenkiewicz himself: it has another delightful reproduction of an engraving of Cremer from 'Viridarium Chymicum' hand-drawn by Lenkiewicz in Indian ink, above which has been pasted a title label neatly lettered in red paint. There follows a 14 page typescript of the text of the work. Ingeniously - and cheaply - hand bound by Lenkiewicz. The covers are quite literally boards, that is two sheets of plain plywood, secured together with a linen backstrip, over which has been placed a paper spine, and down which Lenkiewicz has hand lettered the author and title details. Not at all finely finished - there are some glue marks etc. to the boards, but still overall near VG. (33279) Please check our website for current availability.
Eugenius Philalethes. The Method of Arnoldus de Villanova to be used in the Grand Operation of Rejuvenescency. A manuscript copy by Robert Lenkiewicz and another of an essay that appeared as Chapter XXII of 'Long Livers,' [1722] . London. Hardcover. Octavo. 10 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches. Comprises a typed title and introductory page, followed by 10 pages of handwritten text, written in black and blue, with a hand-drawn decorative device (a smiling sun with decorative floral surrounds) in the colophon. One e blank leaf at front and rear. The text is a transcription, in what appears to be two different hands (one of which is that of Robert Lenkiewicz), of a chapter from Long Livers, a book on eternal youth, attributed to Eugenius Philalethes in 1722. Ingeniously - and cheaply - hand bound by Lenkiewicz. The covers are quite literally boards, that is two sheets of plain plywood, secured together with a linen backstrip, over which has been placed a paper spine, and down which Lenkiewicz has hand lettered the author and title details. Not at all finely finished - there are some glue marks etc. to the boards, pages loosening, but still overall near VG. (33280) Please check our website for current availability.
Leonardt Zum Thurn Thurneisser, Translated by S. Michaelspaterus. Cabala. The Looking Glass of Art and Nature in Alchymy ( Sloane mss. 3676 ). A manuscript transcription by Robert Lenkiewicz. London. London. Hardcover. Folio. 14 x 11 1/2 inches. The work comprises a hand-lettered title page (neatly lettered in brown and black ink), two preliminary pages with marginal notations (as per the original manuscript), and 9 pages of text, handwritten on the versos only of the pages, in several inks, clearly in an attempt to reproduce the feel of the original manuscript. The text is Lenkiewiczs' transcription of Sloane mss. 3676. Loosely inserted is a smaller (quarto) page, a mixture of typewritten and manuscript notes, in which Lenkiewicz reflects comments on the authorship of the piece, indicating that in his view it is unlikely to have been the work of Thurneisser. Ingeniously - and cheaply - hand bound by Lenkiewicz. The covers are quite literally boards, that is two sheets of plain plywood, secured together with a linen backstrip, over which has been placed a paper spine, and down which Lenkiewicz has hand lettered the author and title details. Not at all finely finished - there are some glue marks etc. to the boards, but still overall near VG. (33289) SOLD.
Sydney Anglo, Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft: Scepticism and Sadduceeism [From 'The Damned Art. Essays in the Literature of Witchcraft' ] . London. Reprint. Hardcover. Folio. 12 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches. Comprised of a reduced size copy of the title page of the book The Damned Art, and 34 leaves of text (printed on one side only), and four blank leaves at both the front and rear. A reprint (probably an enlarged photocopy) of a 34 page essay written by Anglo and included in The Damned Art published in 1977 by Routledge and Kegan Paul, and edited by Anglo. Ingeniously - and cheaply - hand bound by Lenkiewicz. The covers are quite literally boards, that is two sheets of plain plywood, secured together with a linen backstrip, over which has been placed a paper spine, and down which Lenkiewicz has hand lettered the author and title details. Lenkiewicz has left a number of page markers with handwritten notes, as well as marking some sections of text with a highlighter, thus he clearly found the article intriguing. Not at all finely finished - there are some glue marks etc. to the boards, rear endpapers a bit ragged at hinge, but still overall near VG. (33285) SOLD
Anon [Elias Ashmole]. Hermes Bird (English alchemical verse from Elias Ashmole's Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum.) London. Hardcover. Folio 13 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches. Comprised of 18 leaves of typed text (printed on one side only, part original typewritten, part a carbon, or otherwise duplicated), and one blank leaf at front and between each section. The first three pages copied from The Tales of the Dervishes by Idries Shah, and the final 15 pages are transcribed from Elias Ashmole's Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum and include the complete "Hermes Bird", an English alchemical verse. Ingeniously - and cheaply - hand bound by Lenkiewicz. The covers are simply thick cardboard, secured together with a linen backstrip affixed with (duct) tape, a paper title label affixed to the upper boards has hand lettered title, and the binding is completed with cloth corners. Not at all finely finished - it is a bit grubby and chafed, glue smears inside etc, text has a few pen notes presumably added by Lenkiewicz himself. Overall VG. (33283) SOLD
Robert S. Brumbaugh, The Solution of the Voynich "Roger Bacon" Cipher. [A bound reprint of an essay] . London. Reprint. Hardcover. Octavo. 10 1/2 x 8inches. Comprised of a slip from The British Library Document Supply Centre bound in, and nine pages of text, and one blank leaf at front and rear. A reprint (probably an enlarged photocopy) of a 8 page essay that appeared in the Yale University Library Gazette (date unknown). Ingeniously - and cheaply - hand bound by Lenkiewicz. The covers are quite literally boards, that is two sheets of plain plywood, secured together with a linen backstrip, over which has been placed a paper spine, and down which Lenkiewicz has hand lettered the author and title details. Not at all finely finished - there are some glue marks etc. to the boards, rear endpapers a bit ragged at hinge, but still overall near VG. (33278) SOLD
Robert S. Brumbaugh, The Voynich "Roger Bacon" Cipher Manuscript: Deciphered Maps of the Stars. London. Reprint. Hardcover. Folio. 12 x 8 1/2 inches. Comprised of a slip from The British Library Document Supply Centre bound in, and 12 leaves of text (printed on one side only), and one blank leaf at front and rear. A reprint (probably an enlarged photocopy) of a 12 page essay that appeared in The Journal of the Warburg & Courtald Institute - circa 1976. Ingeniously - and cheaply - hand bound by Lenkiewicz. The covers are quite literally boards, that is two sheets of plain plywood, secured together with a linen backstrip, over which has been placed a paper spine, and down which Lenkiewicz has hand lettered the author and title details. Not at all finely finished - there are some glue marks etc. to the boards, rear endpapers a bit ragged at hinge, but still overall near VG. (33282) SOLD
Moses Gaster, Alchemy and the Jews. [A partial transcription by Robert Lenkiewicz of an essay the originally appeared in the Jewish Encyclopaedia]. London. Hardcover. Folio. 13 x 8 1/2 inches. Comprised of a handwritten title page, 11 pages of handwritten text (printed on one side only and written with two different pens), and has two blank leaves at front and three at rear. The text is Lenkiewicz's transcription of a part of the essay by Gaster entitled 'Alchemy and the Jews,' which appeared in the twelve volume Jewish Encyclopaedia published by Funk and Wagnalls between 1901-1906. Lenkiewicz had presumably made the notes at some earlier stage in life, and then rediscovered them, by which time he was unsure of their origin. Thus he has titled the piece "Alchemy and the Jews, Fragment copied possibly from the Jewish Encylopaedia." Ingeniously - and cheaply - hand bound by Lenkiewicz. The covers are quite literally boards, that is two sheets of plain plywood, secured together with a linen backstrip, over which has been placed a paper spine, and down which Lenkiewicz has hand lettered the author and title details. Not at all finely finished - there are some glue marks etc. to the boards, and it has been so tightly glued that the covers can not be opened to more than about ninety degrees, and even then the pages are starting to tear at the inner margins. All else near VG. (33286) SOLD
Gerard Heym, Al-Razi and Alchemy [A reprint of an essay] . London. Reprint. Hardcover. Quarto. 13 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches. Comprises 8 pages of text (printed on one side only) and three blank leaves at the front, two at rear. Hand-lettered title-label pasted on third blank. A reprint (probably an enlarged photocopy) of a 8 page essay that appeared in the Alchemical journal 'Ambix' in 1938. Ingeniously - and cheaply - hand bound by Lenkiewicz. The covers are quite literally boards, that is two sheets of plain plywood, secured together with a linen backstrip, over which has been placed a paper spine, down which Lenkiewicz has hand lettered the author and title details. Not at all finely finished - there are some glue marks etc. to the boards, but still overall VG. (33273) SOLD
Bartholomeus Korndorffer, Edited by Adam McLean. Everburning Lights Ascribed to Trithemius (Extracted from MS Ashmole 1408) . London. Reprint. Hardcover. Folio. 12 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches. Comprised of a three blank leaves at front, three leaves of text (printed on one side only), two blank leaves at rear. A reprint (probably an enlarged photocopy) of a 3 page essay, most likely from an issue of The Hermetic Journal. Ingeniously - and cheaply - hand bound by Lenkiewicz. The covers are quite literally boards, that is two sheets of plain plywood, secured together with a linen backstrip, over which has been placed a paper spine, and down which Lenkiewicz has hand lettered the author and title details. Not at all finely finished - there are some glue marks etc. to the boards, pages loosening, but still overall near VG. (33281) Please check our website for current availability.
Frances A. Yates, Did Newton Connect his Maths & Alchemy? [A reprint of an essay] London. Reprint. Hardcover. Folio. 14 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches. Four leaves of text (printed on one side only), with three blank leaves at the front and three at the rear. Hand-lettered title-label pasted on third blank. A reprint (probably an enlarged photocopy) of a 4 page essay written by Frances Yates and printed in Ideas and Ideals in the European Renaissance. Collected Essays. Volume III published in 1984 by Routledge & Kegan Paul. Ingeniously - and cheaply - hand bound by Lenkiewicz. The covers are quite literally boards, that is two sheets of plain plywood, secured together with a linen backstrip, over which has been placed a paper spine, and down which Lenkiewicz has hand lettered the author and title details. Lenkiewicz has left a number of page markers with handwritten notes, as well as marking some sections of text with a highlighter, thus he clearly found the article intriguing. Not at all finely finished - there are some glue marks etc. to the boards, rear endpapers a bit ragged at hinge, but still overall near VG. (33288) Please check our website for current availability.
Michael Maier, Translated by Joscelyn Godwin, with an Introductory Essay by Hildemarie Streich, Atalanta Fugiens (1617). An Edition of the Fugues, Emblems and Epigrams. Warwickshire, Scotland: Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks, 1987. Limited edition . Hardcover. 8vo. 184 pp. Hand-bound brown faux leather, gilt titling to spine, b&w illustrations, tables, index. Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks #22. Limited edition of 250 signed numbered copies. Signed and dated 30th June 1987 by Adam McLean on the limitation page. A bit of light spotting to page edges, otherwise in tight and bright. Near fine condition. (33165) Please check our website for current availability.
Adam Mclean, A Commentary on the Mutus Liber. Edinburgh : Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks, 1982. Limited Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. 62 pp. Hand-bound brown faux leather, gilt titling to spine, frontis and b&w illustrations. Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks, No. 11. Limited edition of 250 signed and numbered copies. Signed and dated 21st January 1982 by Adam McLean on the limitation page. A tight and bright copy. About Fine condition. (33166) Please check our website for current availability.
Adam Mclean, A Commentary on Goethe's Fairy Tale with the Text of the Marchen by J. W. von Goethe, Oxford, UK: Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks, 1982. Limited Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. 60 pp. Hand-bound brown faux leather, gilt titling to spine, b&w illustrations. Translated from the Original German by Donald MacLean. Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks, No. 14. Limited edition of 250 signed and numbered copies. Signed and dated 1st October 1982 by Adam McLean on the limitation page. The text of J. W. von Goethe's Marchen, translated by Donald McLean and with notes and a commentary by Adam McLean. A tight and bright copy. About Fine condition. (33167) Please check our website for current availability.
Adam McLean and Gareth Knight. Commentary on the Chymical Wedding. With text of the 1690 Foxcroft translation revised and modified by Deidre Green and Adam McLean, With Extracts from the Original German Edition, Edinburgh: Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks, 1984. Limited Edition. Hardcover, 8vo. viii + 128pp. Hand bound in brown faux-leather, b&w illustrations. No. 18 of the Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks series. Edition limited to 250 numbered copies. Signed by Adam McLean and dated 7th January 1984 on the limitation page. Translated by Donald McLean. Page edges dusty, otherwise in Near fine condition. (33168) Please check our website for current availability.
[Anonimus the Cabalist] Adam McLean, edits etc. The Crowning of Nature. The Doctrine of the Chief Medicine, Explained in Sixty Seven Hieroglyphics. NP ( UK ): Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks, 1984. Limited edition. Hardcover. 8vo, 138 pp. Hand bound in brown faux-leather, b&w illustrations. No. 3 of the Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks Series. Edition limited to 250 number copies. Signed by the Adam McLean and dated 15th February 1984 on the limitation page. "One of the most enigmatic of all alchemical works, The Crowning of Nature is a detailed description of the alchemical process, through a series of 67 stages which are pictured as taking place in retorts. The Crowning of Nature, which was well known in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, was never published as a printed book, but was widely circulated in manuscript form. For this first edition of the work, Adam McLean has consulted seven manuscript versions, and includes an English text that accompanies some versions. The Crowning of Nature provides a link between the soul development of Alchemy and the work of the physical process, as these illustrations are descriptive of both of these realms. The set of basic symbols undergoes a metamorphosis of form and colour, through a series of cycles, that unfolds in the 67 illustrations. An Introduction surveys the history and assesses the importance of the work against the background of the alchemical tradition. Adam McLean provides a commentary on the process pictured in the series of illustrations and suggests some ways in which we can approach the spiritual ideas woven into the patterns of symbolism." (Adam McLean) Lacking separate plates of 80 alchemical illustrations which accompanied the book, otherwise about Fine condition. (33169) Please check our website for current availability.
[Anon] Translated by Mike Brenner, Introduction etc, by Adam McLean, The Hermaphrodite Child of the Sun and Moon. Glasgow: Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks, 1998. Limited Edition. Hardcover, 8vo. 112 pp. Hand bound in maroon faux-leather, frontis, b&w illustrations. No. 26 of the Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks series. Edition limited to 300 numbered copies. Signed by Adam McLean and dated 10th December 1998 on the limitation page. Light chafe mark to upper spine, otherwise Near fine condition. (33170) Please check our website for current availability.
[Salomon Trismosin] Translated by Joscelyn Godwin, Edited etc. by Adam McLean. Splendor Solis. Edinburgh : Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks, 1982. Limited Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. 106 pp. Hand-bound brown faux leather, gilt titling to spine, frontis and b&w illustrations. No. 8 of Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks series. Limited edition of 250 signed and numbered copies. Signed and dated 18th September 1981 by Adam McLean on the limitation page. An important new translation of what is probably the best known of the sixteenth century alchemical manuscripts. A tight and bright copy with just light shelf dust and rubbing, thus in Near fine condition. (33171) Please check our website for current availability.