Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology

This book is based on the transcription by Miss Una Thomas of the lecture series presented by Dr. von Franz at the C. G. Jung Institute, Zürich, in 1959. The author and publisher are grateful to Miss Thomas for her faithful preparation of the original version. The text in its present form was edited for publication by Daryl Sharp and Marion Woodman. Daryl Sharp selected the illustrations, wrote the captions, and compiled the index.

Acknowledgements, page 6.

There is no reference to a translator, so I infer the lectures were delivered in English.

These lectures are by way of an introduction for students of Jung who find Jung's references to alchemy in books such as Mysterium Coniunctionis too hard to follow. Dr. von Franz does a superb job of introducing this material via examples in chronological order: 3 lectures on Greek alchemy, 3 on Arabic alchemy, and 3 on the Aurora Consurgens, an alchemical text attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas.

Be warned: Dr. von Franz includes a caveat about simplified treatments of alchemy. On page 157 she notes, "People often say, for instance, that Dr. Jung does not write clearly, but he does that on purpose -- he writes with a double attitude, giving full justice to the paradoxes of the unconscious. He describes psychic phenomena from an empirical standpoint. Buddha once said that all his sayings were to be understood on two levels, and Jung's writings also have this double floor, these two levels".