"Medicine and theology were accepted concerns of early modern noble and gentlewomen, and also arenas within which Paracelsian alchemy developed. It is therefore not surprising to find that some educated women engaged actively in Paracelsian alchemy in both its spiritual-philosophical and medicinal aspects, although the extent of this engagement is only beginning to be fully explored."
"In Prospero's America, Walter W. Woodward examines the transfer of alchemical culture to America by John Winthrop, Jr., one of English colonization's early giants. Winthrop participated in a pan-European network of natural philosophers who believed alchemy could improve the human condition and hasten Christ's Second Coming. Woodward demonstrates the influence of Winthrop and his philosophy on New England's cultural formation: its settlement, economy, religious toleration, Indian relations, medical practice, witchcraft prosecution, and imperial diplomacy. Prospero's America reconceptualizes the significance of early modern science in shaping New England hand in hand with Puritanism and politics."
"During his time in Windsor, Brewster began corresponding with John Winthrop, Jr., with whom he shared an interest in alchemy. Brewster had an alchemical laboratory in his home at Brewster’s Neck. In 1656, he believed he was close to discovering the universal cure, a common goal among alchemists."
"Sir Robert Paston (1631-1683) of Oxnead Hall in Norfolk was known in his own time for his loyal support of Charles II, his magnificent house and kunstkammer collection, his political activities, and for his chymical and alchemical pursuits. His family died out in the early eighteenth century with the premature deaths of his grandsons, and today the Pastons are remembered mostly for the famous letters of an earlier generation. However, some seventeenth century items survive: inventories, documents, artefacts and an enigmatic painting The Paston Treasure in Norwich Castle Museum, which depicts some of Robert’s and his father’s collection."
"Sir Robert Paston (1631-83) was a patient and friend of Sir Thomas Browne and an alchemist. He may have wanted to create gold, but his interest appears
to have been philosophical as well. He was also an Original Fellow of the Royal Society, along with such men as Elias Ashmole, John Aubrey and John Evelyn, although he was expelled in 1682, as the society distanced itself from its origins.
"In 2018, Michael Hunter, Emeritus Professor of History at London University, discovered a document in the Wellcome Library. It was a notebook written in Italian by Margaret [Paston] in the 1680s, listing numerous pharmacological and alchemical recipes. Robert Paston was a keen alchemist, who had his own laboratory, but from the notebook it becomes clear that Margaret maintained her own alchemical workshop in Venice. Robert is mentioned in her book, along with his various scientific experiments undertaken at ‘casa Paston’, which must mean Oxnead Hall. Since Margaret left Norfolk aged only twenty-one and had almost no later contact, one can only conclude that she had assisted her father in his laboratory, and was thus involved with science herself from a young age."
"This little girl appears in one of our most important paintings: The Paston Treasure. Painted around 1662-3 at Oxnead Hall, Norfolk, it contains many mysteries, but the girl is likely to represent one of two sisters, Mary Paston or her elder sister Margaret. Recent research strongly suggests that the most probable candidate is Margaret Paston (1652-c.1723)."
"The subject of this paper is seventeenth-century alchemist and physician Arthur Dee’s book, Fasciculus Chemicus. This Latin text, printed in Paris by Nicholas de la Vigne in 1631, is a small duodemico book featuring excerpts from canonical alchemical tracts which Dee curated in a particular order to create new alchemical knowledge. This paper looks at four specific copies of this text as a case-study to show the importance of material investigation of hand-press books for textual scholarship. Ghost editions of this text are redescribed as variant states of a single first edition through comparative bibliographical description and historical contextualization. Then, the paper asks what types of strategies could and did printers employ to modify the prefatory material within a single hand-press book for differing intended audiences? What were the driving social and economic factors behind these decisions? Who were the intended audiences? How were such modifications executed within the constraints of printing, collation, and binding practices? This type of analysis returns agency to early modern printers, publishers, booksellers, and authors to alter texts during publication for separate audiences and markets. This paper emphasizes the critical nature of bibliographical description and necessity of examining the materiality of texts to understand the nuances and variations in copies from a single edition during the hand-press period."
On 21st April 1581 the alchemist Thomas Charnock was buried at Otterhampton in Somerset. Charnock was obsessed with alchemy and claimed to have made the philosopher's stone, which he offered to Queen Elizabeth I in exchange for financial support.
