A Virtuoso’s History: Antiquarianism and the Transmission of Knowledge in the Alchemical Studies of Elias Ashmole

Abstract

This article examines how the seventeenth-century antiquary, Elias Ashmole (1617-1692) used antiquarian techniques to demonstrate the historical veracity of alchemy. Ashmole published three alchemical volumes and collected thousands of pages of alchemical manuscripts. He also wrote several antiquarian treatises and collected manuscripts and printed volumes on astrology, political and ecclesiastical history, heraldry, medicine, devotional treatises. Ashmole's virtuoso perspective allowed him to view knowledge as unified, even traditions that appear to be as discrete as alchemy and antiquarianism. By examining how these two traditions were related to one another, we also see how knowledge was conveyed from one generation to the next.

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