Behind the Book: The Book Without Words: a Fable of Medieval Magic

Avi writes:

I had been reading something about alchemists, those who practiced early science along with magic. They worked during the Middle Ages. The two primary goals of alchemy was to make gold, and to find a way to live forever. In my reading, I came upon the title of a book that some alchemists claimed to use. It was called The Book Without Words, a book of magic, which only (of course) alchemists could read. To all others it looked like a blank book. Thinking of this book led me to the story that became The Book Without Words.