Alchemy Books

AL3. (Boyle, R) Boas, M, Robert Boyle and Seventeenth Century Chemistry, 1st edition, C.U.P 1958, 8vo, red cloth, 9 + 240pp including index. A sound study, bridging the gap between alchemy and science, with the work of Boyle as a central theme. Name to top of front end paper. V.good + in like (very slight soiling/ marks in places, very minor edge creasing) d/w £20

AL6. Ferguson, J, Bibliotecha Chemica. A Bibliography of Books on Alchemy, Chemistry and Pharmaceutics, 1 st edition, Maclehouse 1906, 2 volumes, 4to, original brown buckram, 24 + 488 & 598pp, frontispiece portrait to each volume. A hugely important catalogue of alchemical and related books of the collection of James Young. The value lying not just in the full titles and collations given by Ferguson, but in the biographical and other relevant information not easily found elsewhere. Ex lib., book plates with cancel stamp to front paste downs, small ink stamps to front end papers, title pages, verso of frontispieces and upper margin of first page in volume 1. Corners bumped, cloth a little soiled and marked, both volumes lacking back strips, with titles crudely inked on. Cloth fraying at spine edges. Some browning to end papers, offsetting from frontispiece portraits to title pages. A couple of minor spots to margins, otherwise text clean and tight. Externally, a poor to fair only set, but internally very good. A “cheap” set of the very scarce original issue, (of which there were only 250 copies printed) and therefore a viable candidate for re-backing. This issue was prepared for private distribution by Young’s family following his death and this set is inscribed as “presented by the family” on the library book plates with a date of 1906. £65

AL7. Jung, C.G, Psychology and Alchemy, 1953, R.K.P large 8vo pbk. 2004, 36 + 571pp including index + list of collected works, with many plates and illustrations in text. A study of the nature of alchemy and its relationship to the Collective Unconscious. Reprint of the 1968 second and revised edition. Collected works number 12. Light crease to rear cover, otherwise near mint £12

AL9. Partington, J.R, A History of Chemistry, (volume 2 only), 1st edition, Macmillan & Co. 1961, large 8vo, green cloth with gilt titles to spine, 24 + 795pp including index, illustrations in text, errata leaf. An enlargement of the author's earlier work A Short History of Chemistry, in four separately published volumes. This volume (complete in itself) covers the period from the 16th to the early 18th century, and as a history of alchemy at the time, is one of the finest and most in depth ever published. Includes such luminaries as Paracelsus, Basil Valentine, Van Helmont, Bacon, Hooke, Boyle, and many more. Some trivial rubbing of cloth, lower edges of cloth near corners worn, contents clean and tight. All volumes of this monumental work are now uncommon. A very good copy £45

AL9A. Pritchard, A, Alchemy: A Bibliography of English-Language Writings, 1st edition, R.K.P 1980, large 8vo, red cloth, 8 + 439pp including index. An excellent, comprehensive, and well laid out list, but with no attempt at a critical analysis. Ex Masonic library, nice book plate to front paste down, neat ink stamps to half title, no further trace. Small address label to rear paste down. V.good + in like (some very slight edge creasing) d/w £25

AL10. (Thomas Aquinas), Aurora Consurgens, 1st English edition R.K.P 1966, large 8vo, green cloth, 16 + 555pp including indices. A document attributed to Thomas Aquinas, and dealing with the problem of opposites in alchemy. Edited with commentary by Marie-Louise Franz, and standing as a companion to Jung's Mysterium Coniunctiosis. A fine copy of the scarce original English issue in near fine (price clipped, some minor soiling) d/w £35