Like the somewhat older Robert Fludd (1574-1637), the close contemporary Robert Boyle (1627-91), and the slightly younger Isaac Newton (1642-1727), Elias Ashmole's interests and achievements bridge the often invisible boundaries of seventeenth-century English magic and science. While Ashmole's genius did not lead him in the more specialized paths taken by these contemporaries, his accomplishments in many fields are noteworthy. He is best known, of course, as an antiquarian and collector whose remarkable assemblage of curiosities, bequeathed to him by John Tradescant the son (1608-63), was given to Oxford University and became the foundation of the Ashmolean Museum; likewise, his papers became central to the Bodleian Library's manuscript collection. Ashmole wrote The Institution, Laws and Ceremonies of the Order of the Garter (1672). He was a member of both the Royal Society and the Learned Society of Astrologers, thus finding a place amongst the champions of the “New Philosophy” and with London's leading astrologers, including William Lilly. Ashmole was himself a notable practitioner of astrology and a student of Rosicrucianism. Most, if not all, of these interests are reflected in the “Prolegomena” to the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum.

As its full title suggests, the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, Containing Severall Poeticall Pieces of our Famous English Philosophers, who have written the Hermetique Mysteries in their owne Ancient Language is Ashmole's major contribution to the preservation of early English alchemical texts written in poetic form. It is a monument to Ashmole's interest in alchemy and an expression of his nationalistic fervor: a means of paying tribute to Thomas Norton, George Ripley, Chaucer, John Dastin, Edward Kelly and John Dee – more than thirty identified and anonymous pieces in all – that have their Englishness in common.