A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery

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by Lyndy Abraham

Cambridge University Press

Due/Published February 2001, 272 pages, paper

ISBN 0521000009

New in paper (S01)

This dictionary documents alchemical symbolism from the early centuries AD to the late twentieth century, for use by historians of literary culture, philosophy, science and the visual arts, and readers interested in alchemy and hermeticism. Emphasizing literary and intellectual references in the Western tradition written in or translated into English, the dictionary focuses most closely on works current in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when alchemy occupied the thoughts of figures such as Sir Walter Raleigh and Isaac Newton. Each symbol is defined with its literal (physical) and figurative (spiritual) meanings, an example of the symbol used in alchemical writing, and a quotation from a literary source. The dictionary offers a representative selection of fifty visual images (graphic woodcuts, copperplate engravings, or hand-painted emblems), some never before reproduced.