This is perhaps the best book on Alchemy to be written in this era. Burckhardt wrote both in his native German and in French. His range is tremendous: from modern science in its various forms, through Christianity and Islam, to symbolism, Art, Architecture and mythology. The present volume represents Burckhardt’s penetrating analysis of a subject that is obscure yet extremely important. This unique book aims to destroy modern misconceptions about alchemy. “If alchemy were nothing but a sham,” writes Titus Burckhardt, “Its form of expression would betray arbitrariness and folly at every turn; but in fact it can be seen to possess all the signs of a genuine ‘tradition,’ that is to say, an organic and consistent… doctrine, and a clear-cut corpus of rules.” In these pages, Burckhardt relates alchemy to some of the world’s great psycho-spiritual teachings. Most especially, he discredits the false view of alchemists as primitive chemists who tried to change lead into gold. To the real alchemist, man himself is the dull lead that by a refining process can become Gold of the Sun. This dazzling idea is the key to true alchemy, and Burckhardt shows how it can open vast and unexpected spiritual horizons. It is an extremely rich document, for there can be no doubt that Burckhardt blends in a masterly fashion a style that is eminently accessible with an insight of the utmost penetration. This book will make a considerable impact and shall provide a needed corrective for much muddled thinking.
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Titus Burckhardt (1908-1984) (Ibrāhīm ‘Izz ud-Dīn) was the son of the Swiss sculptor, Carl Burckhardt, and a member of a patrician family of Basle. Although he first followed in his father’s footsteps as a sculptor and illustrator, he was since his childhood always strongly attracted to oriental art. This led him to a theoretical study of eastern doctrines and to repeated sojourns in the Islamic countries. After some years of studying the history of art and oriental languages, he became director of a publishing house, the Graf-Verlag, which specialised in facsimile editions of ancient manuscripts. In 1972, he was appointed to UNESCO for the preservation of the ancient city of Fez. He was himself an artist and a writer. Well known as the general editor of a magnificent series of art books on sacred cities, and the author of these that deal with Sienna, Chartres and Fez, he has also written such authoritative works as Moorish Culture in Spain; Sacred Art in East and West; An Introduction to the Sufi Doctrine; Letters of a Sufi Master and Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul, which is perhaps the best book on Alchemy to be written in the twentieth century. His collected essays have appeared in English under the title Mirror of the Intellect.
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