Experimental Fire

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1300s
1400s
14th century
1500s
1600s
1700s
A01=Jennifer M Rampling
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alchemical
alchemy
ancient world
Author_Jennifer M Rampling
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books
british
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=HBJD1
Category=NHD
Category=PDX
Category=PN
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
early modern
education
elixir
england
english
eq_history
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eq_non-fiction
eq_science
gold
healer
healing
historical
history
iron
Language_English
learning
medical
medicine
medieval
metal
metals
middle ages
monarchs
PA=Available
philosopher
physical
poison
precious
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
renaissance
research
silver
soft water
softlaunch
transformation
uk
united kingdom

Product details

  • ISBN 9780226826547
  • Weight: 567g
  • Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
  • Publication Date: 08 Mar 2023
  • Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
  • Language: English
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A 400-year history of the development of alchemy in England that brings to light the evolution of the practice.

In medieval and early modern Europe, the practice of alchemy promised extraordinary physical transformations. Who would not be amazed to see base metals turned into silver and gold, hard iron into soft water, and deadly poison into elixirs that could heal the human body? To defend such claims, alchemists turned to the past, scouring ancient books for evidence of a lost alchemical heritage and seeking to translate their secret language and obscure imagery into replicable, practical effects.

Tracing the development of alchemy in England over four hundred years, from the beginning of the fourteenth century to the end of the seventeenth, Jennifer M. Rampling illuminates the role of alchemical reading and experimental practice in the broader context of national and scientific history. Using new manuscript sources, she shows how practitioners like George Ripley, John Dee, and Edward Kelley, as well as many previously unknown alchemists, devised new practical approaches to alchemy while seeking the support of English monarchs. By reconstructing their alchemical ideas, practices, and disputes, Rampling reveals how English alchemy was continually reinvented over the space of four centuries, resulting in changes to the science itself. In so doing, The Experimental Fire bridges the intellectual history of chemistry and the wider worlds of early modern patronage, medicine, and science.
Jennifer M. Rampling is associate professor of history at Princeton University.