For the first time the major work by Eyraeneus Philalethe Cosmopolita is disclosed to the reader of Alchemy as a comparative study on three original editions, supported by an historical survey about Elias Artista and the New World utopia. In the XVI century a bunch of fools dreamed to establish a new society, based on Mother Nature's knowledge; unfortunately, that dream failed to became true. Philalethe, one of those good men went back to his laboratory and to the ☿ of the Philosophers: he left us his Secrets Reveal'd. His work is a true masterpiece of Alchemy, extremely difficult to be properly understood by those who are not ready to leave logic, vanity, and lust for possession. Since the academic world presumes that the Ancient Art is just a junky forerunner of chemistry, we assumed that Philalethe, an alchemist, deserved to be studied and commented by operative alchemists. His teachings are outstanding, and no one will never be able to enter the Shut Palace of the King without Humility and Patience

UMI's "Early English books, 1641-1700" series is a microfilm collection of works selected from: Donald Wing's "Short-title catalog of books ... 1641-1700".

The Ancient Hidden Art of Alchemie, Containing the right and perfect means To make the Philosophers Stone Aurum Potabile, with other Excellent Experiments, Divided lnto Twelve Gates. Sir George Ripley (c. 1415-1490) was an English Augustinian canon, author, and alchemist.

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Biographical details for George Ripley (c.1415-c.1490), one of England's best-known alchemical authorities, are sketchy, but he is known to have travelled widely on the Continent in search of alchemical wisdom. Whilst a canon regular at the Augustinian priory at Bridlington in Yorkshire, he conducted alchemical experiments and wrote widely on the subject. Ripley's popular alchemical poem, The Compound of Alchemy, has survived in many manuscript versions, was first printed in 1591 with a dedication to Queen Elizabeth, and prompted many explications and commentaries during the two centuries following Ripley's death. Originally dedicated by Ripley to King Edward IV, the poem figures the King as a kind of alchemical aspirant who, having received instructions from Ripley, his alchemical master, is enabled to glimpse the arcane secrets of the art. The Compound of Alchemy is not only a treatise concerning mastery of the twelve stages of the alchemical process leading to the philosopher's stone, it is also a work of poetry composed in rhyme royal stanzas.This modern critical edition is based on the full text of the 1591 printed edition and is preceded by an introduction containing a chronology of Ripley's life, a survey of manuscripts, an analysis of the 1591 printed edition and its cultural context, and an examination of the ways in which Ripley's aims and objectives are closely linked to the work's verse format. The edition also contains a commentary, bibliography, index, and illustrations.