Anke Timmermann, Ph.D. (Cantab. 2007), is a historian of science and Munby Fellow in Bibliography at Cambridge University Library (2013-14). Her publications include various articles on medieval and early modern alchemy and medicine, scientific poetry and historical manuscripts.

"[...] an impressive statement that can hardly be summarized in a few sentences. The book is fluently written and easy to read [...]. This publication can be recommended both to the experienced reader interested in the history of science and its educational traditions or in alchemical poetry and its transmission and as a starting point for the beginner who shares the same interests."Erik Leibenguth in: Isis Volume 106, Number 2, June 2015"This is a new and sorely needed perspective, complementing other approaches. [...] Timmermann [...] constructs an illustrative and convincing narrative of how the text were perceived, pondered, used and rewritten over the course of two hundred years. [...] The book is rounded out by critical editions of the main text and diplomatic transcriptions of the more peripheral members of the corpus. With so few edited alchemical texts in Middle English available, these editions are very welcome."Peter J. Grund, Univ. Kansas, in Speculum Vol. 90, Iss. 3, pp. 859-860, July 2015