I found this interesting alchemical engraving in  Geheimnisse einiger Philosophen und Adepten, aus der Verlassenschaft eines alten Mannes. Leipzig, 1780,

The text below states:-

Est lapis occultus, in imo fonte sepultus, Vilis et ejectus, fimo et stercore tectus
It is a hidden stone, buried in the bottom of the fountain, base and cast out, covered with filth and dung.


   

By Alister McGrath.

It has been noted that the exploration of alchemical themes during the Renaissance and early modern period often took a poetic form. This article sets out to explore this in greater detail, especially in the light of a deeper understanding of the persistent creative intermingling of alchemical and theological imagery during the early modern period arising from recent scholarship, particularly the imaginative lure of the notion of chrysopoeia ("turning into gold") for many Renaissance writers.

https://www.scilit.net/article/bec27ef0e...references

Irene Zenon, PhD thesis, University of Venice.

309 pages, nicely illustrated, in English.

http://dspace.unive.it/bitstream/handle/...sequence=1

Isaac Newton’s Hermeneutics of the Symbolic Texts of Chymistry and Biblical Prophecy

PhD thesis by Paul T. Greenham

That early modern natural philosophers such as Isaac Newton were deeply preoccupied by
religious concerns, which were entwined with their study of nature, has become—at last—a
fairly uncontroversial commonplace. In the area of the relationship between Newton’s
natural philosophy, alchemy, and theology, Dobbs’ Janus Faces of Genius has had an
enduring impact. However, the new historiography of alchemy and insights gained from the
application of book history to the history of science—particularly the bookishness of
alchemy—require Newton’s alchemy and theology to be revisited.


347 pages.

https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitst...thesis.pdf

https://lanuitlanuit.wordpress.com/2019/...-de-paris/

https://www.deepl.com/translator


   

Some images from Thomas Norton's Ordinall of Alchymy:

https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-o...chemy-1477

Love the acorn-pots bottom-left in the first image, showing that utility didn't always trump aesthetics even in the mediaeval alchemist's workshop.

Earlier this evening, I found this engraving, which provides a variation on the well-known Vitriol acrostic.

It is an illustration for the fourth text in the Quadratum Alchymisticum, 1705.

   

A correspondent has asked me:

What are the formulas for the Astral, Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral stones? What is the formula for Magic fire?

I have sent him some source books. Can anyone provide concise answers? He's looking for chemical recipes, not definitions.

TIA

"An History of Metals"

John Webster 1671, with a chapter on transmutation (Ch. XXIX):

https://tinyurl.com/4t85bv4e

I found today a rather fine, coloured manuscript in the Latvian Masonic Museum (which has a Facebook page).
It is a version of the familiar 18th century compendium, the  'Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians'.
Among the images is one of the Mons philosophorum. This was originally issued as woodcut dated 1604, normally ascribed to Denis Zacaire, and indicated as being the frontispiece to his Die Natürliche Philosophia.  I am not entirely sure that this is correct. It does appear in at least one of the 18th century printings of Die Natürliche Philosophia, 1724. But is not included in the 1609 printing, at least in the copy I have examined.