The Alchemy web site on Levity.com
Newsletter No. 16 of alchemy and hermetic books
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ALCHEMY AND HERMETIC MAILING LIST
NEWSLETTER No 16 - March 1998
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Over the past month I have been extremely busy working to
produce a new book in the Hermetic Studies series.
No. 2. Alchemical Coins and Medals by Vladimir Karpenko.
Throughout the alchemical tradition, the apparent success of a
transmutation, particularly one performed in public, was often
commemorated by the minting of a coin or medal. These were
often presented to the local prince or nobleman who on some
occasions was present at the actual transmutation. In some cases
the medal was even said to have been made from the transmuted
metal itself. In this book Vladimir Karpenko provides an exhaustive
survey of these alchemical coins and medals, drawing together
the many references in alchemical literature and identifying what
can be found of their history. As a number of these coins still
physically exist, the author provides us with the information on
where they can still be found.
This book contains an edition of H.C. Bolton's late 19th century
survey of alchemical coins with Vladimir Karpenko's notes and
amendments, together with Vladimir's own more complete listing
based on his extensive research, and an essay on alchemical
coins and medals. The book is enriched with as many illustrations
of these alchemical coins as it has been possible to obtain.
This book opens a window into the mysterious world of alchemical
transmutation, and the strange coherence of this idea in the
alchemical tradition.
98 pages. 33 illustrations. A5 hardback. Limited edition of 300 copies.
£36.00 (including air mail postage)
£32.00 (Europe or UK postage)
You can purchase this through the alchemy web bookstore at
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/alchemy/index.html
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I now have the Bird of Paradise CD-Roms in stock again. A number
of customers have been waiting for these for a few months.
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There are still copies of the Eirenaeus Philalethes available
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/alchemy/philalethes.html
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In the past few weeks I have been trying out a new binding material
for my books. This is another leather-type material, but it has a
number of advantages over the former material I used, in that it
simplifies the production, only needing one type of adhesive to
attach the cover rather than three, and it thus requires less time to
bind up each book. For this reason I can reduce the prices of my
books a little (by about 15-20%). I have bound up some small batches
of the Mutus Liber, Spendor solis, Atalanta fugiens, Dream of Poliphilus,
Maier Cantilenae, and the Jane Lead Revelation of Revelations, so
these are now available at new lower prices. I hope to bind up copies
of some more of the Magnum Opus titles over the next month or so.
Mutus Liber - £43 reduced to £36
Spendor solis - £43 reduced to £36
Atalanta fugiens - £55 reduced to £45
Dream of Poliphilus - £50 reduced to £40
Maier Cantilenae - £43 reduced to £36
Jane Lead Revelation of Revelations - £43 reduced to £36
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/alchemy/magnum_opus.html
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I have begun to reorganise the Alchemy web site, hopefully making it
easier for users to find items, and navigate through the pages more
efficiently. The site has become so large that users can find it difficult to
locate items. I often get e-mail from people requesting assistance in
finding a section they had previously visited. The site has grown
organically and through growth its structure has become convoluted.
It now requires a pruning to reduce the number of nodes through which
the users needs to step to find a particular page.
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Steve Ronan of Chthonios Books has four rare alchemical books for sale -
Agricola, Georgius DE RE METALLICA
Translated by Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover.
(Dover: New York 1950) 669 pp, Large format 11 x 7 inches, HB with DJ, £85.
Ashmole, Elias THEATRUM CHEMICUM BRITANNICUM
(Johnson Reprint Corp. New York 1967: A reprint
of the London Edition 1652 with a new introduction by Allen G Debus).
544 pp HB £250.
Magnus, Albertus BOOK OF MINERALS
Translated by Dorothy Wyckoff (Oxford University Press 1967) 351 pp,
Large format 10 x 7 inches, HB with DJ, £150.
Mangeti, Jo. Jacob. BIBLIOTHECA CHEMICA CURIOSA.
(Bologna: Arnaldo Forni 1976) Facsimile of the 1702 edition. Two large
thick heavy hb quarto volumes, green cloth, 951+904pp, 30 full-page
engravings, £630. One of only 300 sets printed. Latin collection of 140
alchemical texts.
E-mail him directly if you wish to purchase any of these.
chthonios@dial.pipex.com
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/chthonios/index.htm
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With my best wishes,
Adam McLean