Northern Iraq?, eighteenth century?
MS Add. 3086, fo. 11r

A book of magic spells and incantations written in Syriac, the Semitic language commonly used by Christian communities in the Middle East. The text, written in Nestorian script, contains penances, spells, cures for illnesses and a list of names of angels. The picture shows St George, the soldier saint, whose story originated in the Middle East and who has been venerated there since the seventh century, and the Dragon. It was donated to the library in 1891 by Francis Jenkinson (University Librarian 1889–1923), and was originally from the collection of Dr Percy Badger (1815–88), the eminent Arabic scholar and missionary in the Syriac Church who travelled widely in the Middle East.