Alexander Roob

There are those that say the key to reality can be found between these pages. Maybe so, but I read this for the artwork, the ideas, the mysteries, not for signs of truth. Here is the sheer joy of discovery of the human psyche's ability to creatively construct a scaffold on which to hang reality on. Highly recommended.

Wonderful and hard-to-find illustrations from the Middle Ages till today about the Great Work. Sparse but intelligent captions allow you to make your own conclusions and connections.

Art publisher Taschen printed a whole slew of 25th anniversary editions back in 2005, one of which was a translation of Alexander Roob's Alchemy & Mysticism. When I came across the book remaindered last summer I thought I'd take a leaf through the nearly 600 pages of text and images. I have now completed my perusal. Unfortunately I found the text well nigh incomprehensible, but I'm not sure whether this is a function of the subject itself or just the translation. The images (from early show more alchemical and mystical texts, mainly) were interesting enough (and are beautifully reproduced here), but the accompanying captions and expository paragraphs left something to be desired.

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This book is heavy! It is a valuable resource book for everyone interested in medieval graphic, art, symbols. But those who look for a simple introduction to alchemy and mysticism should search somewhere else: The texts and excerpts are a bit confusing and not very structured. But still entertaining.