Manuscript of Le Miroir d’Alchemie

1860

Mellor Collection

This book once belonged to two famous scientists. This French translation of a work attributed to Roger Bacon (1214-94), The Mirror of Alchimy, once belonged Dunedin’s own, Joseph William Mellor (1869-1938), world famous inorganic chemist and ceramicist. Mellor’s bookplate was drawn in 1911 by ‘G.M.F.’, and contains imagery pertinent to Mellor’s career in science. The owl, a symbol of wisdom, sits atop a flask over a Bunsen burner surrounded by books. The Latin inscription loosely translates to ‘Knowledge and the laws of nature truly come together when they agree with experimentation.’