Summer has officially started in Chapel Hill, and UNC HSL’s Graduate Research Assistant, Ashley, is writing for the Tumblr again! That means more quests to find obscure (and sometimes creepy) items in our collections, more botanical remedies, and (of course) even more alchemy!
To start off the summer, today we’re posting about the different tables of alchemical symbols you can find in our special collections (both here and at @wilsonlibunc )! Tables of chymical characters were typically inserted into chymistry books in the 17th century. Early practitioners of the art of chymistry (a hybrid of alchemy and chemistry) would use these tables to decode alchemical symbols they found in handwritten manuscripts.
In order to demystify the codes of the past, printers needed to figure out a way to print these rather weird special characters. While some texts (like the Le Fevre) used intaglio printing methods to create these tables, others (like the Lemery text) used moveable type--making hundreds of tiny symbols for each table! (Personally I’m rather partial to the moveable type versions, as I like to imagine typemakers creating a bunch of tiny metal skulls and crescent moons).
Regardless of printing method used, all of these 17th century tables give the reader an interesting glimpse into the complex symbology of alchemy. So if you need to decode old alchemical manuscripts any time soon (or if you want to try your hand at writing messages in alchemical symbols), come check out these cool books in UNC HSL and Wilson Library!
Image 1: Nicolas Lemery. A Course of Chymistry. 1698. Health Sciences Library Special Collections. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Image 2: Nicaise Le Fevre. A Compleat Body of Chymistry. 1670. The Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.