Bloomsbury, London, 1995. First edition. Black hardcover has gilt titles on spine. Boards are clean. Contents tight. No inscriptions. Touch of foxing to e/p's. 212pp with illustrations throughout. Dust jacket has foxing internally. Tape repairs to the inside at the bottom of the spine and general edge-wear.

This is an investigation into the elusive philosopher's stone of medieval alchemy. The book examines references, both textual and pictoral, deconstructing Vedic and Puranic myths and artworks and explaining their arcane meaning. It identifies the similarities between these cults and contemporaneous Jewish sects, tracing the appearance of the the stone from the Garden of Eden through Moses and the Prophets up to Jesus and the gnostics, the secret being kept alive and passed on through a shepherdic conspiracy. Thence to the cult of chivalry and the mystical quest for the Holy Grail, and finally, proceeding directly and indirectly, to the alchemists, with Jesus as their stone.