Chaldean Magic: Its Origin and Development

Originally published in 1877 as Magie Chez les Chadeens, Francois Lenormant's Chaldean Magic is a scholarly exposition of the magical practices, religious systems, and mythology of the Chaldeans of ancient Assyria. Apparently translated anonymously by an in-house translator working for the original British publisher, Lenormant extensively revised and added to the text for the English edition. Edited, and with a preface by William Rickets Cooper, a founder of Bagster and Secretary to the Society of Biblical Archaeology, this work primarily explores the 12th-century translation of a large tablet from the library of the royal palace at Nineveh. This tablet, partially destroyed, contains a succession of 28 formulas of deprecatory incantations against evil spirits, the effects of sorcery, disease, and the principle misfortunes that may attack people in the course of daily life.