The Last Alchemist: Count Cagliostro, Master of Magic in the Age of Reason

by McCalman, Iain

First Edition

Price: $12.00
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Book description: Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.: HarperCollins, 2003. First Edition. Hard Cover. New/Near Fine. Who was the mysterious Count Cagliostro? Depending on whom you ask, he was either a great healer and mystic or a dangerous charlatan whose revolutionary notions and influences threatened to undermine the monarchies of France and Russia. He was the leader of an exotic brand of Freemasonry, and was indisputably one of the most influental and notorious figures of the latter eightenth century, overcoming poverty and ignoble birth to become the darling - and bane - of upper-crust Europe. The author documents how Cagliostro crossed paths - and often swords - with Catherine the Great, Marie Antoinette, and Pope Pius VI. in London, Warsaw and St. Petersburg he established "healing clinics" for the poorest of the poor, a radical notion at that time, and his dexterity in the worlds of alchemy and spiritualism won him acclaim among the nobility across Europe. In 1791 he was arrested for heresy, and spent the last five years of his life in solitary confinement. A fascinating biography of a man whose influential actions still reverberate today. 272 pages, including endnotes and black and white portraits. Dust jacket has very light rubbing. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

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