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According to Lovecraft's account the original, called Al Azif (the sound of nocturnal insects, said in folklore to be the conversation of demons), was written by the mad Arab, Abdul Alhazred, and contains an account of the Old Ones, their history, and descriptions of how they may be summoned. A number of translations were made over the centuries - the Elizabethan magician, John Dee was supposed (by Lovecraft) to have possessed a copy. The book is now mentioned in various places in fiction but always as being very rare; there are copies in the British Museum, the Sorbonne?, and the library of Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts. The book, like other fictional works such as [The King in Yellow]? is dangerous to read, being almost inevitably destructive of ones health and sanity, and is kept under lock and key in these libraries. |
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According to Lovecraft's account the original, called Al Azif (the sound of nocturnal insects, said in folklore to be the conversation of demons), was written by the mad Arab, Abdul Alhazred, and contains an account of the Old Ones, their history, and descriptions of how they may be summoned. A number of translations were made over the centuries - the Elizabethan magician, John Dee was supposed (by Lovecraft) to have possessed a copy. The book is now mentioned in various places in fiction but always as being very rare; there are copies in the British Museum, the Sorbonne?, and the library of [Miskatonic University]? in Arkham?, Massachusetts. The book, like other fictional works such as [The King in Yellow]? is dangerous to read, being almost inevitably destructive of ones health and sanity, and is kept under lock and key in these libraries. |
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Even though Lovecraft himself insisted the book was pure invention (and other writers invented passages from the book in their own works), there are accounts of some people actually believing the Necronomicon to be a real book. This issue was confused in the late 1970s by the publication of a book purporting to be a translation of the real Necronomicon. This book, by the pseudonymic "Simon", published by Schlangekraft and then in Avon paperback, connected the Lovecraft mythology to Sumerian mythology. |
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Even though Lovecraft himself insisted the book was pure invention (and other writers invented passages from the book in their own works), there are accounts of some people actually believing the Necronomicon to be a real book. This issue was confused in the late 1970s by the publication of a book purporting to be a translation of the real Necronomicon. This book, by the pseudonymic "Simon", published by Schlangekraft and then in Avon paperback, connected the Lovecraft mythology to Sumerian Mythology. This connection between fiction and a historical religion persists to this day. |
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