Privately printed in 1925, the Richard Watson Councell's essay Apollogia Alchymiae, drawn from his private library and considered one of the best texts to discover the mysteries and secrets of Alchemy, has been an esoteric treasure for Occultists for nearly a century. A singular and mysterious character, Richard Watson Councell was a great Initiate, an Alchemist, a Theosophist and a Freemason. He collaborated, writing fundamental articles, with the prestigious magazine The Occult Review. According to some sources, he was secretly the father of the famous thriller writer Sax Rohmer (Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward), who was initiated by him into the esoteric sciences and who wrote the preface to this essay.