The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic Legends, and Folklore
by E. S. Drower (Author)
Publication date 1937
Topics Mandaeans, Gnosticism
Collection opensource
Language English
No anthropologist has conducted fieldwork among the Mandaeans, not even in recent decades and therefore Drower remains a singular figure. Scholars, students, and aficionados regard her book as the work that brings the people alive.
https://archive.org/details/themandaeansofiraqandirantheircultscustomsmagiclegendsandfolklore/page/n143/mode/2up

Ethel Stefana Drower née Stevens December 1879 – 27 January 1972) was a British cultural anthropologist who studied the Middle East and its cultures. She was considered the primary specialist on the Mandaeans, and the chief collector of Mandaean manuscripts.

She was a daughter of a clergyman. In 1906 she was working for Curtis Brown, a London literary agency when she signed Arthur Ransome to write Bohemia in London.

In 1911, she married Edwin Drower and after his knighthood became Lady Drower. As E. S. Stevens, she wrote a series of romantic novels for Mills & Boon and other publishers. In 1921, she accompanied her husband to Iraq where Sir Edwin Drower was adviser to the Justice Minister from 1921 to 1946. Her works include The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans (a translation of the Qolusta); The Secret Adam (Mandaeans); and The Peacock Angel (about the Yezidis). Among her grandchildren was the campaigning journalist Roly Drower.