The Jābirian Kitāb al-Nukhab and Teaching the Science of Talismans in the Abbasid Era

This article introduces a hitherto overlooked work on the science of talismans attributed to Jābir b. Ḥayyān, called Kitāb al-Nukhab (The Compendium), but widely known as Kitāb al-Baḥth (The Book of the Quest). The work contains a long and rich text on the natural and metaphysical foundations of the science of talismans, primarily, but also alchemy, and artificial generation. The author explicitly promotes his book as a textbook for learning talismanry that also describes the proper teacher-student relationship needed for this craft. This affords us important insights on the professionalisation of talismanry as science and craft, and a glimpse into how the occult sciences were integrated in the teaching structures of the Abbasid era.