Beschreibung:

MacLeod (Murdo Kennedy, 1895-1979). 'The Subba Immersionists of Iraq: an investigation into their evolution from the Ea cult of Sumeria, Accadia and Babylonia', c.1950, original typescript, rectos only, red margin-rules, [10] + 3 + 9 + 1 + 1 + 481 + 16 + 1 + 105 pp., including typescript title-page (annotated 'No 1. copy' on the mount), manuscript title-page and general contents leaf, separate manuscript title and list of contents to each chapter (extra to our collation), 21 original gelatin silver print photographs (mounted, with manuscript captions), 2 manuscript maps (one on glazed linen, folding, the other on paper, mounted), 3 manuscript tables (of the Subba alphabet and calendar), 2 original pen-and-ink sketches of Assyrian carvings, contemporary blue cloth by Partridge & Cooper Ltd, spine lettered in gilt, housed in contemporary wooden box with typescript address labels and parcel stamps, 4to (28 x 22 cm) (Qty: 1) Unpublished, comprehensive monograph on the Mandaean people of southern Iraq, which notably argues for the antiquity of their immersion rituals, here presented as pre-dating Christian baptism. Macleod (1895-1979) was ordained as a Free Church minister in Glasgow in 1921 and graduated MA from the University of Edinburgh in 1922. He became an RAF chaplain in 1926 and spent several years stationed in Mesopotamia, in 1933 submitting a doctoral thesis on the Yazidi people. He was later principal chaplain of the Royal Air Force.