Treatise On The Great Art

Antoine Joseph Pernety’s Treatise on the Great Art is an alchemical text devoted to the theory and symbolism of the philosophers’ stone and the transmutation of matter and spirit. It is significant for illustrating the scholarly, interpretive side of eighteenth-century alchemy, and readers will find allegorical readings, technical discussion, and reflections on the aims of the Great Work.

Antoine-Joseph Pernety (1716–1796) was a French Benedictine scholar, translator, and esoteric writer associated with alchemy and hermetic thought. He is noted for his 'Dictionnaire mytho-hermétique' and other works that interpret classical mythology and alchemical symbolism in a hermetic framework.