"Who was Antonio Neri? Venture into the mysterious world of a late Renaissance priest, alchemist and glassmaker; not a fictional character but a real flesh and blood man. Antonio Neri plied his craft in Florence, Pisa and Antwerp at the beginning of the seventeenth century. He was both a contemporary of Galileo, and a devotee of Paracelsus. Sponsored by a Medici prince, he is best known for writing L'Arte Vetraria, the first book devoted to making glass from raw materials. Explore the cobbled streets of his home town, Florence, where his father served as court physician to the grand duke. Find out why it was not so strange for alchemy to be part of the education of a Catholic priest. Neri delighted European royalty with his glass formulations and artificial gems, but his interests ranged far wider. His work spanned the development of new medicines, attempts to make the fabled 'philosopher's stone' and to transmute metals. The quest to make gold was not a simple folly; it spawned the experimental techniques that underpin modern science. Here, for the first time, the disparate threads of Antonio Neri's life are gathered together and assembled into a colorful tapestry"--Back cover.

c. 1 Gift; Paul Engle; 2015