Batak-Handschrift. Prayers and Magic Formulars

Apart from rock, clay and papyrus belonged smoothened tree bark to the most used natural raw materials upon which laws, business texts, letters, and literature was written down in Egypt and in the Near East since the 4th Century b.C. Even after the expansion of paper book forms out of tree bark and other natural materials continued to be used for religious or ritualistic purposes for some time.

• Title: Batak-Handschrift. Prayers and Magic Formulars
• Place: Sumatra
• Date: 18th/19th century
• Size: Accordion fold album out of tree bark inbetween wood boards
• Dimensions: 19,5 x 200 x 8 cm
• Library: Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
• Shelfnumber: Deutsches Buch- und Schriftmuseum der Deutschen Bücherei Leipzig: 1958: Or 1
• Provenance: Klemm Sammlung
• Document type: Manuscript
• Subject: Religion