The Golden Game: Alchemical Engravings
Cultural History Art History Occultism Alchemy Renaissance Studies Esotericism Symbolism
The Golden Game: Alchemical Engravings is the definitive visual field guide to the secret symbolic copperplates that once circulated through 17th-century European laboratories. Stanislas Klossowski de Rola—son of the painter Balthus and a world-renowned scholar of esoterica—curates 320 generously sized pages packed with 200+ rare engravings, many reproduced life-size on the 10½" × 7½" matte stock. Each plate is decoded in plain language, turning cryptic dragons, ouroboros, and planetary gods into an accessible grammar of spiritual chemistry that today’s collectors, artists, and tarot designers mine for authentic Renaissance imagery.
What makes this 1998 Thames & Hudson paperback especially collectible is its unique “personalised” copy—an early-owner sticker on the front flyleaf and a touch of natural edge-toning that testify to decades of careful private use, never ex-library. The interior remains crisp and unmarked, free of dog-ears or underlining, so symbols stay pristine for scanning or framing. Compared with the scarce and now-pricey hardcover, this edition offers the same high-resolution illustrations and scholarly captions at a fraction of the cost, while the larger page size preserves fine-line detail better than later reduced reprints.
For readers fascinated by art history, occult science, or the visual roots of modern spirituality, The Golden Game is both a museum-in-hand and a practical reference: designers pull motifs for album covers and tattoos, historians trace the fusion of politics, religion, and proto-chemistry, and New-Age seekers explore meditation sequences encoded by adepts like Michael Maier and Basil Valentine. A well-preserved, personally inscribed copy bridges the gap between coffee-table art book and working grimoire—an inspiring, search-friendly addition to any library of alchemy, cultural studies, or Renaissance symbolism.
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