“THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY”: Alchemical “Ripley Scrolls,” named after the English alchemist George Ripley, are featured in a new Princeton University Library exhibit now on view in the Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery, Firestone Library.

Princeton University Library’s (PUL) latest exhibition, “Through a Glass Darkly: Alchemy and the Ripley Scrolls 1400-1700,” shows how European alchemists built on Greco-Egyptian, Islamic, and late medieval foundations to create a golden age of alchemy from the 15th century to the time of Sir Isaac Newton. Rich in color and symbolism, the exhibition features two alchemical “Ripley Scrolls,” named after the English alchemist George Ripley, which rank among the most spectacular products of this tradition. The exhibition is now on view in the Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery, Firestone Library.

In pre-modern Europe, alchemy was a science of change. Medieval alchemists experimented with medicinal elixirs to counter the public health crisis of their era — the bubonic plague — and attempted to transmute base metals into gold and silver to solve the region’s precious metal shortage. They also sought to repair alchemy’s old associations with fraud.

“To improve alchemy’s reputation, they presented their work as both a practical art and an ancient philosophical tradition,” said Jennifer Rampling, exhibition curator and Princeton University associate professor of history. “One way of doing that was to disguise their secrets using very elaborate, allegorical language and obscure imagery. This fantastical imagery reached its peak with the Ripley Scrolls.”

Other items on display are drawn from PUL’s Special Collections, specifically Rare Books, Manuscripts, and the Cotsen Children’s Library. There are also works on loan from Kislak Center for Special Collections at University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University Art Museum, Science History Institute, and alchemy historian Lawrence M. Principe.

Members of the public are welcome to visit the exhibition between noon and 6 p.m., seven days a week. Note all visitors must sign-in and attest to being up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccinations. The gallery and restrooms are wheelchair accessible.

For more information, visit https://library.princeton.edu/alchemy.