Arthur Machen

Thesaurus Incantatus Arthur Machen

Machen's "Thesaurus Incantatus" is a work in two parts; the first is a short metaphoric story (partially in the form of a fantasy work) that describes alchemy in a veiled manner, and the second is a lengthy list of works for sale at the time by the publisher. While the former is the work, technically, itself, the latter is such a good springboard for occultists to begin researching other texts that it almost eclipses the actual alchemical materials which were central to the booklet. The date of manufacture has been inferred due to the use of the date 1888 in one part of the latter segment to seemingly describe the contemporary era.