Amulets and Talismans of the Middle East and North Africa in Context : Transmission, Efficacy and Collections / edited by Marcela A. Garcia Probert and Petra M. Sijpesteijn.

In the volume amulets and talismans produced by Muslims and non-Muslims in the Islamicate world, are studied within a broader system of meaning, focussing on the complex role these objects played in pre-modern societies.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Acknowledgements -- List of Figures and Tables -- Notes on Contributors -- Notes on Transliteration, Names of Persons and Places and Dates -- Introduction. Transmission, Efficacy and Collections: Amulets in Interaction with Their Environment / Marcela Garcia Probert and Petra M. Sijpesteijn -- Part 1 Transmission -- 1 Specimens of Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic Magical Texts from the Cairo Genizah / Gideon Bohak -- 2 A Twentieth-Century Manuscript of the Kitāb al-Mandal al-Sulaymānī (Ar. IES  286, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia): Texts on Practices & Texts in Practices / Anne Regourd -- 3 Arabic Medical-Magical Manuscripts: A Living Tradition / Petra M. Sijpesteijn -- Part 2 Efficacy -- 4 Casting Discord: An Unpublished Spell from the Egyptian National Library / Hazem Hussein Abbas Ali -- 5 "This Blessed Place": The Talismanic Significance of House Inscriptions in Ottoman Cairo / Juan E. Campo -- 6 A Talismanic Scroll: Language, Illumination, and Diagrams / Yasmine Al-Saleh -- 7 The Material Nature of Block Printed Amulets: What Makes Them Amulets? / Karl Schaefer -- Part 3 Collecting and Collections -- 8 Arabic Magical Texts in Original Documents: A Papyrologist Answers Five Questions You Always Wanted to Ask / Ursula Hammed -- 9 Amulets and Talismans in the Earliest Works of the Corpus Bunianum / Jean-Charles Coulon -- 10 Twigs in the Tawfik Canaan Collection of Palestinian Amulets / Marcela Garcia Probert -- 11 The Collection of Arabic and Persian Seals and Amulets in the British Museum: Notes on a History / Venetia Porter -- Glossary -- Index.

In this volume amulets and talismans are studied within a broader system of meaning that shapes how they were manufactured, activated and used in different networks. Text, material features and the environments in which these artifacts circulated, are studied alongside each other, resulting in an innovative approach to understand the many different functions these objects could fulfil in pre-modern times. Produced and used by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, the case studies presented here include objects that differ in size, material, language and shape. What the articles share is an all-round, in-depth approach that helps the reader understand the complexity of the objects discussed and will improve one's understanding of the role they played within pre-modern societies. Contributors Hazem Hussein Abbas Ali, Gideon Bohak, Ursula Hammed, Juan Campo, Jean-Charles Coulon, Venetia Porter, Marcela Garcia Probert, Anne Regourd, Yasmine al-Saleh, Karl Schaefer and Petra M. Sijpesteijn.

Description based on print version record.