Alchemy: An Illustrated A to Z [Hardcover]

Diana Fernando (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1998

Covering the history, content and associations of alchemy, this A-Z encyclopaedic dictionary contains over 300 entries covering this ancient science.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This dictionary provides over 500 entries on alchemy, defined as an esoteric path with two different levels. The physical level is concerned with transforming and purifying metals while the metaphysical level is concerned with transforming and purifying humans. The entries are well written and informative, with copious line drawings and some colored illustrations; information is given on alchemy and its history and influences, including the Kabbala, astrology, the Renaissance view of learning, and the occult. An excellent resource for students of history or other more esoteric studies; recommended for reference collections serving both undergraduate and graduate students and researchers of history, religion, philosophy and the occult.?Gail Wood, SUNY Coll. of Technology Lib., Cortland
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Sterling Pub Co Inc (August 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0713726687
• ISBN-13: 978-0713726688
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #982,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A sugar-coated excursion into the fallacious., March 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Alchemy: An Illustrated A to Z (Hardcover)

I saw a copy of this at a bookstore and was relatively horrified at the amazing lack of truthful information. Ms. Fernando seems to have spent a great deal of time filling up her pages with tangential nonsense rather than exploring the heart of the matter. Alchemy is a fascinating subject which is entirely capable of filling modest libraries with its centuries old wisdom. This book only gleams the surface and makes inadequate simplifications. Various mystics throughout history are given brief bios generally ending in "and he was an alchemist." Several of these are incorrect (i.e. Maimonides) and seem to have been inserted to gather historical support. Alchemy's history is rich and doesn't need this infantile form of scholarship.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A short illustrated dictionary of alchemy, June 23, 2002

By 

R. Num "silverfish" (BURNSIDE, SA Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alchemy: An Illustrated A to Z (Hardcover)

I think the other reviewer ("a reader from NYC") of this book has written rather harshly, apparently following a browser's view in a bookshop but not a more prolonged reading. Diana Fernando admits in her introduction to possessing "a satirical edge to [her] nature", and this, together with with a British classical education and sense of humour, may have led to the other reviewer's annoyance.

This is a useful supplement and introduction to other alchemical works, written in contemporary language and delightfully illustrated, with over 500 entries about alchemical processes, people, writings, concepts and history. The book has 192 pages, including 2 pages of a select bibliography, and includes over 160 illustrations.

In her introduction to the book, Fernando states "my subject demands a sense of humour... Such pedantry as weighs down the saturnine allegories of alchemy, such yearnings for elixirs,such potterings with semen and dung, such anxiety for secrecy and such gibberish resultant therefrom - all these call for a touch of love, of airy levity." Diana Fernando has certainly achieved that with her book, and enlivened what might otherwise be an over-serious subject long consigned to the dustbin of scientific prehistory.