The Golden Book

In 1696 a Lutheran minister, Joshua Kocherthal (1669 – December 27, 1719), moved to Kraichgau just south of Heidelberg. He moved to the area to serve the small parishes there. As a Lutheran minister Kocherthal would have seen first hand the result of raids by Louis XIV Catholic armies during the War of Spanish Succession.  He would have also seen the destruction of the cities of Heidelberg, Worms, Mannheim and others during the War of the Palatine Succession. Such turmoil would definitely have affected Kocherthal and his congregation.
Since the time of William Penn and George Fox, other missionaries had visited the Palatinate. There were also many books and pamphlets in circulation describing the opportunities in the English colonies.  William Penn himself commissioned several of them. Joshua Kocherthal had very likely come across these. In 1704 Kocherthal made a trip to London. While there he made contact with proprietors of the Carolinas. At this meeting Kocherthal agreed to write a book promoting the Carolinas as a place where palatines could find a life free of war and religious persecution. In 1706, having never been to Carolina Kocherthal published his book titled "A Complete and Detailed Report of the Renowned District of Carolina Located in English America".
Kocherthal's book was published with some limited success. By 1708, Kocherthal had convinced over 50 palatines to make the journey with him to the Carolinas. Their journey took them through England. Whilst in England, Kocherthal made the case to the English crown that they were refugees fleeing French persecution in the Succession War (a war to which England was party). Their plea was successful and the crown paid for their passage to New York and provided them with a small amount to live on.
In 1709, Kocherthal brought out revised editions of his book on the Carolinas and it was these editions of the book that made the greatest impact.  The new editions contained an appendix detailing Kocherthal's trip to New York.  The book was full of praise for Queen Anne and her attitude towards the refugees in 1708. It strongly hinted that any palatine that chose to make the trip would be similarly supported by the English crown. How officially this view was endorsed by Queen Anne herself is subject to speculation.  But the new editions went as far as showing Queen Anne's picture on the cover.  The cover itself was embossed in gold lettering, from whence grew the term 'Golden Book'.
A parliamentary report into the palatine exodus of 1709 found many mentions of the Golden Book among the refugees and many of them expressed a wish to go to the Carolinas. It definitely appears that this book more than any other factor was the trigger that caused the palatines to leave their homeland and make the arduous trip into an unknown new world.