- Harry Potter: A Journey Through A History of Magic
- British Library
- 226字
- 2019-01-02 21:29:09
The Ripley Scroll
THE INCREDIBLE Ripley Scroll is a mystical alchemical manuscript. It is covered in enchanting illustrations along with text called ‘Verses upon the Elixer’. These verses are a recipe for creating the Philosopher's Stone.
The Ripley Scroll (England, 16th century)
BRITISH LIBRARY
DID YOU KNOW?
This manuscript is roughly six metres long. That's as tall as a giraffe! Because of its extraordinary length, the scroll had rarely been unrolled in living memory before the Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibition in 2017. This is because the curators didn't have a table long enough to unroll it on!
‘You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all – the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things which are worst for them.’
PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE - HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE
Sections of the Ripley Scroll
It takes its name from George Ripley (died c. 1490) who reportedly studied alchemy, and wrote a book on how to make a Philosopher's Stone, known as The Compound of Alchymy. The scroll features dragons, toads and a winged bird captioned, ‘The Bird of Hermes is my name / Eating my Wings to make me lame’.