A 20-foot long hand-painted copy of a 15th century scroll believed to hold “vital clues” about wizardry used by the first alchemists in Britain has been chanced upon by librarians at the Science Museum in London.
The Ripley Scroll – named after George Ripley, a scientist who produced 25 alchemy tomes in between convincing the public he could turn base metals into gold almost 600 years ago – is a variation of the original works, featuring images illustrating the creation of the legendary Philosophers’ Stone.
The stone was considered the font of western alchemy and a source of immortality. The museum’s revelation, spotted by Library Assistant Cate Watson during research for new show Signs, Symbols, Secrets: An Illustrated Guide to Alchemy, represents the latest addition to the 22 existing scrolls known to exist across the world.
Whilst it is interesting that they've found another copy, virtually everything in that article about alchemy is wrong and reads like it was written by someone whose sole previous exposure to the topic had been Harry Potter.
Interesting that someone made a copy in the 18th or 19th century, I wonder what differences there are and if there is any information as to who did it?
