«Hermetic Philosophy and Alchemy» by Mary Anne Atwood

This book is one of the best and most comprehensive about Hermetic philosophy and a perfect textbook for your first steps into alchemy. A real suggestive inquiry into the Hermetic mystery.

Contents:

Part I An Exoteric View of the Progress and Theory of Alchemy
Chapter I A Preliminary Account of the Hermetic Philosophy, with the more Salient Points of its Public History
Chapter II Of the Theory of Transmutation in General, and of the First Matter
Chapter III The Golden Treatise of Hermes Trismegistus, Concerning the Physical Secret of the Philosopher's Stone.

Part II A More Esoteric Consideration of the Hermetic Art & Its Mysteries
Chapter I Of the True Subject of the Hermetic Art, & its Concealed Root
Chapter II Of the Mysteries
Chapter III The Mysteries Continued
Chapter IV The Mysteries (Concluded)

Part III Concerning the Laws and Vital Conditions of the Hermetic Experiment
Chapter I Of the Experimental Method and Fermentation of the Philosophic Subject, According to the Paracelsian Alchemists and some Others
Chapter II A Further Analysis of the Initial Principle, and its Eduction into Light
Chapter III Of the Manifestation of the First Matter, and its Information by Light.
Chapter IV Of the Mental Requisites and Impediments Incidental to Individuals Either as Masters or Students in the Hermetic Art

Part IV The Hermetic Practice
Chapter I Of the Vital Purification, Commonly Called the Gross Work
Chapter II Of the Philosophic or Subtle Work
Chapter III The Six Keys of Eudoxus, Opening Into the Most Secret Philosophy
Chapter IV The Conclusion