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Natural magick
409 pages
Step into a Renaissance scholar's candlelit cabinet of curiosities, where the boundary between rigorous science and wondrous magic dissolves.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like wandering through a dusty, candlelit cabinet of curiosities curated by a mad genius of the Renaissance. The pace is delightfully meandering, inviting you to browse rather than rush, as you stumble upon everything from practical agricultural advice to bizarre alchemical recipes and parlor tricks. The prose is archaic and instructional, yet infused with an earnest, wide-eyed wonder at the hidden forces of the natural world. It is an esoteric and deeply atmospheric experience, blurring the lines between early scientific inquiry and outright magic. This is a treasure trove for antiquarians, history buffs, and anyone who loves getting lost in the strange, inventive, and wonderfully weird origins of human knowledge.
- Mood
- antiquarian
- esoteric
- candlelit
- dusty
- Tone
- curious
- earnest
- instructional
- wondrous
- Pace
- meandering
- Themes
- the pursuit of hidden knowledge · blurring of science and magic · Renaissance ingenuity · wonder of the natural world
- The writing
- Archaic and instructional, the text reads like a recipe book written by a poet-philosopher, dense with period-typical idiosyncrasies.
- The arc
- The reader journeys from mild curiosity to a deep, bewildered fascination with the boundless imagination of the Renaissance mind.
- Who it's for
- Antiquarians, occult enthusiasts, and history buffs who delight in exploring the bizarre, fascinating origins of modern science.
Content notes
- historical animal cruelty
- archaic medical practices
About the book
Facsimile edition of work first published in abridged edition of 1558, and then in this full English edition in 1658. A miscellany of early scientific beliefs, observations, and experiments by della Porta and his little group of amateur scientists.
Description from Open Library.
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