Jorunn Buckley – författare

Mandaean priests, representatives of a religious heritage that can be traced back to Late Antique Mesopotamia, still copy their ancient literature by hand. The Great Stem of Souls is a study of the colophons - postscripts at the end of each text - that are appended to most Mandaean documents. A study of the contents of the colophons provides a framework for reconstructing Mandaean history.

Mandaean priests, representatives of a religious heritage that can be traced back to Late Antique Mesopotamia, still copy their ancient literature by hand. The Great Stem of Souls is a study of the colophons -postscripts at the end of each text - that are appended to most Mandaean documents. A study of the contents of the colophons provides a framework for reconstructing Mandaean history.

An edition of the scholarly letters of the English Lady E. S. Drower, famous for her novels, travel accounts, and studies in the Middle East, especially on the Mandaeans. Drower (1879‐1972) kept up a lively correspondence with scholars, and the letters here span the years 1938 to the mid 1960s. It presents a window on Near Eastern studies in the mid 20th century, from the viewpoint of an autodidact insisting on, and succeeding in, a place among the academics.. Correspondence with many famous scholars and intellectuals are included, such as Cyrus H. Gordon, Rudolf Macuch, Sidney H. Smith, Godfrey R. Driver, Samuel H. Hooke, and Franz Rosenthal. The letters focus on four of Lady Drower's main books: The Book of the Zodiac (1949), Water into Wine (1956), A Mandaic Dictionary (with Rudolf Macuch, 1963), and Drowers hoped for, crowning achievement: the presumably lost, large manuscript, Mass and Masiqta.