“The Experimental Fire” and “The Secrets of Alchemy”

Readers interested in the history of alchemy will be pleased to hear that Jenny Rampling’s long-awaited “The Experimental Fire: Inventing English Alchemy, 1300-1700” (University of Chicago Press) has now been published. Offering plenty of new original insights into the alchemical practices of figures such as John Dee (and fellow spirit conjuror, Edward Kelley), the book also takes a new and…