Study Course on the Ripley Scroll

Book excerpt: The Ripley Scroll is one of the most beautiful and important of alchemical manuscripts. It dates from the early 16th century. 21 examples have survived and the earliest is in Oxford. A late copy made in 1624 was recently sold (Dec 2000) in an auction at Sotheby's for £206,000 ($300,000). So it is an extremely valuable and rare work. The scroll is an English alchemical manuscript and is among the earliest alchemical works that incorporate allegorical imagery and text, it predates the well known 'Splendor solis' and 'Rosarium Philosophorum' illustrations. It has not yet been conclusively established that it was the work of George Ripley, but his name has always been associated with this scroll. In the first few months of 2002 I worked on making a facsimile of this famous work basing it upon three of the best known and earliest versions of the scroll. I redrew and coloured the images. Most of the surviving scrolls are in poor condition and the colouring has consequently faded, so making this facsimile provided the opportunity of recreating the scroll in its original vivid colours. I also have used my modern version of the text on the scroll. The original 15th/16th-century middle English verse is rather difficult for people inexperienced with this material to read.