The Lives of the Alchemystical Philosophers: With a Critical Catalogue of Books in Occult Chemistry, and a Selection of the Most Celebrated Treatises on the Theory and Practiceof the Hermetic Art

London: Watkins, 1955; (1815, 1885). Facsimile reprint of the first edition,1815 . 386 pages, 23 cm Near fine(-) to very good(+) in very good(-) jacket. Mild soliing & edge wear to edges and preliminaries; minor edge chipping to jacket. Personal owner name to front free enpaper. . Hardcover.

This work is scarce in jacket. Limited edition of 250 numbered copies, of which this is hand-numbered exemplar 238. This work occupies a foundational position in the modern historiography and bibliography of Western alchemy. It represents one of the earliest systematic attempts to treat alchemical literature as an intellectually continuous tradition, integrating biographical notice, textual history, and critical evaluation within a single scholarly framework. Waite’s catalogue, though written from a late-Victorian perspective, brought order to a notoriously diffuse corpus and identified core texts, authors, and lineages that would shape subsequent research. Long consulted by historians of science, esotericism, and book collectors alike, the volume remains significant both for its documentary reach and for its role in legitimizing hermetic studies as a serious field of historical inquiry rather than a marginal or purely antiquarian pursuit.