The Resource The business of alchemy : science and culture in the Holy Roman Empire, Pamela H. Smith
The business of alchemy : science and culture in the Holy Roman Empire, Pamela H. Smith
Resource Information
The item The business of alchemy : science and culture in the Holy Roman Empire, Pamela H. Smith represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri-St. Louis Libraries.This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch.
Resource Information
The item The business of alchemy : science and culture in the Holy Roman Empire, Pamela H. Smith represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri-St. Louis Libraries.
This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch.
- Summary
- In The Business of Alchemy, Pamela Smith explores the relationships among alchemy, the court, and commerce in order to illuminate the cultural history of the Holy Roman Empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In showing how an overriding concern with religious salvation was transformed into a concentration on material increase and economic policies, Smith depicts the rise of modern science and early capitalism. In pursuing this narrative, she focuses on that ideal prey of the cultural historian, an intellectual of the second rank whose career and ideas typify those of a generation. Smith follows the career of Johann Joachim Becher (1635-1682) from university to court, his projects from New World colonies to an old-world Pansophic Panopticon, and his ideas from alchemy to economics. Teasing out the many meanings of alchemy for Becher and his contemporaries, she argues that it provided Becher with not only a direct key to power over nature but also a language by which he could convince his princely patrons that their power too must rest on liquid wealth. Agrarian society regarded merchants with suspicion as the nonproductive exploiters of others' labor; however, territorial princes turned to commerce for revenue as the cost of maintaining the state increased. Placing Becher's career in its social and intellectual context, Smith shows how he attempted to help his patrons assimilate commercial values into noble court culture and to understand the production of surplus capital as natural and legitimate. With emphasis on the practices of natural philosophy and extensive use of archival materials, Smith brings alive the moment of cultural transformation in which science and the modern state emerged
- Language
- eng
- Extent
- xii, 308 pages
- Contents
-
- Prologue
- Evocation
- 1. Provenances
- 2. Oeconomia rerum et verborum: Constructing a Political Space in the Holy Roman Empire
- 3. The Commerce of Words: An Exchange of Credit at the Court of the Elector in Munich
- West Indian Interlude
- 4. The Production of Things: A Transmutation at the Habsburg Court
- Interlude in the Laboratory
- 5. Between Words and Things: The Commerce of Scholars and the Promise of Ars
- Epilogue: Projection
- Isbn
- 9780691056913
- Label
- The business of alchemy : science and culture in the Holy Roman Empire
- Title
- The business of alchemy
- Title remainder
- science and culture in the Holy Roman Empire
- Statement of responsibility
- Pamela H. Smith
- Language
- eng
- Summary
- In The Business of Alchemy, Pamela Smith explores the relationships among alchemy, the court, and commerce in order to illuminate the cultural history of the Holy Roman Empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In showing how an overriding concern with religious salvation was transformed into a concentration on material increase and economic policies, Smith depicts the rise of modern science and early capitalism. In pursuing this narrative, she focuses on that ideal prey of the cultural historian, an intellectual of the second rank whose career and ideas typify those of a generation. Smith follows the career of Johann Joachim Becher (1635-1682) from university to court, his projects from New World colonies to an old-world Pansophic Panopticon, and his ideas from alchemy to economics. Teasing out the many meanings of alchemy for Becher and his contemporaries, she argues that it provided Becher with not only a direct key to power over nature but also a language by which he could convince his princely patrons that their power too must rest on liquid wealth. Agrarian society regarded merchants with suspicion as the nonproductive exploiters of others' labor; however, territorial princes turned to commerce for revenue as the cost of maintaining the state increased. Placing Becher's career in its social and intellectual context, Smith shows how he attempted to help his patrons assimilate commercial values into noble court culture and to understand the production of surplus capital as natural and legitimate. With emphasis on the practices of natural philosophy and extensive use of archival materials, Smith brings alive the moment of cultural transformation in which science and the modern state emerged
- Biography type
- contains biographical information
- Cataloging source
- DLC
- http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
- 1957-
- http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
- Smith, Pamela H.
- Illustrations
- illustrations
- Index
- index present
- Literary form
- non fiction
- Nature of contents
- bibliography
- http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
-
- Becher, Johann Joachim
- Science, Renaissance
- Science
- Holy Roman Empire
- Holy Roman Empire
- Philosophy
- Science
- Europe
- Label
- The business of alchemy : science and culture in the Holy Roman Empire, Pamela H. Smith
- Bibliography note
- Includes bibliographical references (pages [279]-301) and index
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier category code
-
- nc
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type code
-
- txt
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Contents
- Prologue -- Evocation -- 1. Provenances -- 2. Oeconomia rerum et verborum: Constructing a Political Space in the Holy Roman Empire -- 3. The Commerce of Words: An Exchange of Credit at the Court of the Elector in Munich -- West Indian Interlude -- 4. The Production of Things: A Transmutation at the Habsburg Court -- Interlude in the Laboratory -- 5. Between Words and Things: The Commerce of Scholars and the Promise of Ars -- Epilogue: Projection
- Control code
- 29600645
- Dimensions
- 25 cm
- Extent
- xii, 308 pages
- Isbn
- 9780691056913
- Isbn Type
- (acid-free)
- Lccn
- 93044856
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- Media type code
-
- n
- Other physical details
- illustrations
- System control number
- (WaOLN)1599301
- Label
- The business of alchemy : science and culture in the Holy Roman Empire, Pamela H. Smith
- Bibliography note
- Includes bibliographical references (pages [279]-301) and index
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier category code
-
- nc
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type code
-
- txt
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Contents
- Prologue -- Evocation -- 1. Provenances -- 2. Oeconomia rerum et verborum: Constructing a Political Space in the Holy Roman Empire -- 3. The Commerce of Words: An Exchange of Credit at the Court of the Elector in Munich -- West Indian Interlude -- 4. The Production of Things: A Transmutation at the Habsburg Court -- Interlude in the Laboratory -- 5. Between Words and Things: The Commerce of Scholars and the Promise of Ars -- Epilogue: Projection
- Control code
- 29600645
- Dimensions
- 25 cm
- Extent
- xii, 308 pages
- Isbn
- 9780691056913
- Isbn Type
- (acid-free)
- Lccn
- 93044856
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- Media type code
-
- n
- Other physical details
- illustrations
- System control number
- (WaOLN)1599301
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<div class="citation" vocab="http://schema.org/"><i class="fa fa-external-link-square fa-fw"></i> Data from <span resource="http://link.umsl.edu/portal/The-business-of-alchemy--science-and-culture-in/fmzo9Xt-l4s/" typeof="Book http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/Item"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a href="http://link.umsl.edu/portal/The-business-of-alchemy--science-and-culture-in/fmzo9Xt-l4s/">The business of alchemy : science and culture in the Holy Roman Empire, Pamela H. Smith</a></span> - <span property="potentialAction" typeOf="OrganizeAction"><span property="agent" typeof="LibrarySystem http://library.link/vocab/LibrarySystem" resource="http://link.umsl.edu/"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a property="url" href="http://link.umsl.edu/">University of Missouri-St. Louis Libraries</a></span></span></span></span></div>
