It was a talisman and magic wand.

From My Belief: Essays on Life and Art, a collection of essays by Hermann Hesse.  The Magic of the Book is an essay from 1930.  

With all peoples the word and writing are holy and magical; naming and writing were originally magical operations, magical conquests of nature through the spirit, and everywhere the gift of writing was thought to be of divine origin. With most peoples, writing and reading were secret and holy arts reserved for the priesthood alone; it was a great and remarkable undertaking when a young man decided to acquire these mighty arts. It was not easy, it was reserved for the few, and had to be paid for with dedication and sacrifice. From the standpoint of our democratic civilizations, the spirit in those days was something rarer but also nobler and holier than today; toilsome roads led to it, it had divine protection and was not offered to everyone gratis. We can only dimly imagine what it was like in a hierarchic-aristocratic culture, in the midst of an illiterate folk, to possess the secret of writing! It meant distinction and power, it meant white and black magic, it was a talisman and magic wand.