THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Series One: The Papers of Sir Hans Sloane, 1660-1753 from the British Library, London

Parts 4 and 5: Alchemy, Chemistry and Magic

The Selection Process

The Sloane collection numbers over 4,000 manuscripts and many of them are of interest to the scholar of alchemy, chemistry, magic and the occult.  On the Alchemy website: (see here), which is extremely helpful, Adam McLean lists over 400 manuscripts of direct relevance.  Our discussions with scholars in the field pointed to at least 200 more that could be considered. Having created a substantial list of possible candidates the next task was to consult the extensive handwritten catalogue of the Sloane manuscripts at the British Library (no printed catalogue exists, only an index) and then to consult as many of the manuscripts as possible.

Our goal was to make about 40 reels in total, which allowed us to select 137 manuscripts in total.  The aim was to produce a balanced selection, enabling scholars access to a wide range of texts spanning the Greek and Arabic traditions, through Hermeticism and the works of the great 13th century alchemists (Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon and Ramon Lull), to the subsequent 15th and 16th century writings of Ripley and Norton.  This was capped off with a number of 17th century texts describing the ‘new’ science of chemistry, as practiced in Britain and France by Robert Boyle, Nicholas Lemery and others.  Some items had to be excluded because of their poor physical condition, but every effort was made to include those texts that were universally recognized to be of the greatest importance.  We would welcome comments from scholars on the selection and will be able to include additional items in future parts.  Scholars should also be aware of the overlap that exists between the various parts of this project.  Some items of alchemical significance were included in Parts 2 & 3 of this project (on Voyages of Discovery) and many more will be featured in Part 6 (on medicine).

Once the selection and filming was completed, we then undertook the transcription of the catalogue entries from the handwritten catalogue.  These appear in the detailed list in this guide.  Please note that these descriptions are mainly, but not always complete.  Many of the items are miscellanies containing over 50 individual items, each with lengthy descriptions.  For some of the items we have only listed the most significant items of alchemical importance.  Once again, we would welcome any comment on, or amendments to our listings.  Scholars should also note that Adam Maclean’s Alchemy website (see above) also includes extensive transcriptions from the catalogues describing additional items that may be of interest to scholars.

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