The Book of Protection
The Book of Protection: Being a Collection of Charms is a collection of Syriac Rite|East] Syriac Christian charms and incantations associated with the so-called 'Nestorian' Church, edited and translated by Hermann Gollancz from three Syriac manuscripts which date back to early 19th century and earlier. The compilation was first published in 1912 by Henry Frowde, with 27 illustrations from Codex A.
Brief history
The book is a translation of three manuscripts written in Syriac, two of them were in the possession of Hermann Gollancz, the third from Cambridge University Library. They were probably written or compiled by a native of the country which lies to the north of Mosul. The owner was possibly a priest or some kind of officer of the Nestorian Church to whom men made application for spells, incantatory prayers and formulae of blessing to help them both spiritually and physically. According to the tradition, this collection of prayers and charms was given to Adam by the angels, and which was then handed down and augmented up to the time of King Solomon.The two manuscripts in Gollancz's possession, were first brought to public notice at the International Congress of Orientalists held at Paris in 1897. Gollancz described that it was his intention at first simply to make a reference to William Wright's A catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge, which has a description concerning these manuscripts. However, he then decided to publish the full collection, together with a translation.