PROJECTS OF THE IUA

The original title of this project was Manuscrits alchimiques: it is one of the oldest projects sponsored by the UAI. It was initiated by J. Bidez in 1919, when the UAI was founded. The aim of the project was to locate and to describe the alchemic manuscripts so as to edit the alchemic texts, study them, and to draw a variety of conclusions from them. Eight volumes with lists of manuscripts were published between 1924 and 1932. They were compiled as a necessary preparation for making the edition of alchemic texts possible. During and after the Second World War the project was interrupted for a period of about thirty years. In 1968, at the meeting in Bucharest, A.J. Festugière suggested starting the second stage of the project, the edition of the texts. Thanks to the initiatives of H.D. Saffrey and R. Halleux, a full programme of the works to be published has been worked out : the collection will include 12 volumes. The first volume (by R. Halleux) was published in 1983. The individual volumes are concerned with texts relating to Ancient Greek alchemists, and to alchemic works in Latin. A catalogue of alchemic manuscripts is also included in the publication programme. The project has recently set up a new section, devoted to the Latin alchemists of the Middle Ages. Three volumes have been published so far.

Category A. Directed by the Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux Arts de Belgique.
Directors : J. Bidez 1922-1939, A. Delatte 1948-1963, D.H. Saffrey 1968 , with the collaboration of R. Halleux, 1978-1999, A. Tihon 1999-