Winner of the 2005 Pfizer Prize from the History of Science Society.
What actually took place in the private laboratory of a mid-seventeenth century alchemist? How did he direct his quest after the secrets of Nature? What instruments and theoretical principles did he employ?
Using, as their guide, the previously misunderstood interactions between Robert Boyle, widely known as "the father of chemistry," and George Starkey, an alchemist and the most prominent American scientific writer before Benjamin Franklin as their guide, Newman and Principe reveal the hitherto hidden laboratory...

The Four Books of pseudo-Democritus, written in the first century AD, rank among the very earliest known alchemical writings. In this volume, Matteo Martelli presents not only a fresh edition and translation of the surviving Greek fragments, but also, for the first time, additional materials preserved in Syriac. The volume also presents important examples of the medieval and early modern reception of these writings, including the dialogue of Synesius and Dioscorus - the most influential Byzantine commentary on the Four Books - and previously unpublished Latin translations of both the Four...