The Necronomicon: An Annotated Bibliography
Those interested in researching the Necronomicon further should look over the following material. It's hardly complete, and if you see any omission or can put your hand on any of the items we want, let us know. To help you find these resources, you may want to look at my notes on how to find books in the Cthulhu Mythos FAQ.
Alhazred, Abdul. Al Azif: The Necronomicon. Philadelphia: Owlswick Press. 1973.
This is the first published Necronomicon hoax. It is mostly faked Arabic-like calligraphy, along with a brief fictional introduction by L. Sprague de Camp.
Black, Jeremy and Anthony Green. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. Austin: University of Texas Press. 1992.
An up-to-date and easy-to-use guide to the mythology from which the Simon Necronomicon sprang. A good resource for determining what is and isn't true in it.
Bryant, Roger. "Necronomicon". Tamlacht 2, vol. 2. No date given. pp. 10-13, 15.
A piece trying to work out the chronology of the Necronomicon in Lovecraft's fiction, with special care paid to the "Olaus Wormius" controversy.
-. "Stalking the Elusive Necronomicon". In HPL. Meade and Penny Frierson, eds. 1972. Out of print.
Bryant proposes that the Necronomicon was inspired by the Picatrix, a twelfth-century Arabic magical tome. The book is never mentioned in the Selected Letters series, and passages there make it clear that Lovecraft did not base his book on another Arabic volume.
Carey, Robert C. "The Case of Simon's Necronomicon". Crypt of Cthulhu. St. John's Eve, 1984. pp. 21-24.
Carey worked at the Warlock Shoppe (later Magickal Childe) in New York when the Simon book was being written. In his opinion, it is a hoax, but this is irrelevant for many of its users.
Chua, Kendrick Kerwin. The Necronomicon - FAQ Version 2.0. 20 May 1994.
Chua's FAQ may be found at several different points around the Web. It is one of the best on-line resources, though it is dated and includes a number of factual errors. Dan Clore has put together an annotated copy of this article with the view of correcting some of these errors.
Conover, Willis and H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft at Last. Arlington, Carrollton Clark. 1975. Out of print.
Describes the interaction between a young fan and H. P. Lovecraft near the end of his life. Includes a facsimile of Lovecraft's "History of the Necronomicon" manuscript.
De Camp, L. Sprague. "Books that Never Were". In Rubber Dinosaurs and Wooden Elephants. San Bernardino: Borgo Press. *.
A short essay dealing with various imaginary books in history and legend, and dealing especially with the Necronomicon.
-. H. P. Lovecraft: A Biography. New York: Barnes and Noble Books. 1996.
Previously published as Lovecraft: A Biography. Not as insightful as the works by Joshi and Conover, but it is more common in libraries.
-. "Preface to the Necronomicon". Crypt of Cthulhu. St. John's Eve, 1984. pp. 17-20.
A reprint of his introduction to the Al Azif. In a brief statement beforehand, De Camp admits that "Alhazred"'s book is a hoax.
-. "The Unwritten Classics." Saturday Review of Literature 30(13). pp. 7-26.
Derleth, August. "The Making of a Hoax". In The Dark Brotherhood and Other Pieces. Sauk City: Arkham House. 1966. pp. 262-267.
An expansion of Derleth's earlier comments in the Arkham Sampler (see Lovecraft and Derleth), with information on a few more spoofs.
Duda magazine. March, 1982 issue. (wanted)
A Mexican publication which included a cartoon history of the Necronomicon.
Fox, Darren. The Necronomian: The Workbook to the Avon Necronomicon. Palm Springs: International Guild of Occult Sciences. 1996.
This overpriced book is a guide to using the Simon Necronomicon in magical operations. Much of this book is a re-hash of the Simon book, material plagiarized from other sources, and inaccurate information about the Necronomicon. Only recommended for hardcore researchers with money to burn.
Giger, H. R. H R Giger ARh+. Zurich: Benedikt Taschen Verlag GmbH. 1992.
Briefly describes how Giger came to put together his art portfolio called "Necronomicon". Unfortunately, Giger gets most of his information from the Hay Necronomicon, not exactly the best source on the topic.
-. H R Giger's Necronomicon. Basel: Sphinx Verlag. 1977.
-. H R Giger's Necronomicon 2. Zurich: Edition C. 1985.
Grant, Kenneth. The Magical Revival. London: Skoob Esoterica. 1993. Out of print.
Kenneth Grant, head of a magical order called the (Typhonian) Ordo Templi Orientis, called Lovecraft's work to the attention of the occult community when this book was published. Some of its connections between Lovecraft and noted occultist Aleister Crowley are tenuous.
-. Outer Gateways. London: Skoob Esoterica. 1994.
Notes that "many of today's creative occultists have been influenced, not by the presence of the [Necronomicon] but by its absence" (p. 6). Grant makes use of both the Hay and Simon Necronomicons in his grand synthesis. For those who enjoy complex occult discussion.
Harms, Daniel. Encyclopedia Cthulhiana. Oakland: Chaosium, Inc. 1995.
Includes a number of appendices on the Necronomicon in the fiction of various authors, including a timeline. An excellent book which you should run out right now and buy. I'm being serious.
Hay, George, ed. The Necronomicon: The Book of Dead Names. With an introduction by Colin Wilson. London: Skoob Esoterica. 1992.
Claims that Lovecraft's father was a Freemason who allowed his son to see the Necronomicon, and that Doctor John Dee's Liber Logaeth is actually the Necronomicon. Colin Wilson (see) has since admitted that both claims are bunk.
Joshi, S. T. H. P. Lovecraft: A Life. West Warwick, Necronomicon Press. 1996.
The definitive biography of H. P. Lovecraft.
Langford, David. "Unspeakable Name Games." Fortean Times. no. 95. p. 49.
A brief article on the Necronomicon, in which the author (who worked on the Hay edition) admits that it's all a fake.
Larson, Bob. Satanism: The Seduction of America's Youth. Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers. 1989.
Includes a brief discussion of the Necronomicon. Larson gets most of his information from the Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology (see Shepard), and ends up mixing up the Hay and Simon editions. Useless for its information on the Necronomicon - or for anything else.
Lindholm, Lars B. Pilgrims of the Night. St. Paul: Llewellyn. 1993.
An occultist's perspective on the Necronomicon controversy.
Lovecraft, Howard Phillips.
It never ceases to amaze me that so many "experts" on the Necronomicon have only a passing familiarity with Lovecraft's work. Reading all of the stories marked with a "*" below is a must for anyone interested in the book.
-. At the Mountains of Madness. Corrected edition. Sauk City: Arkham House. 1985.
ATMOM collects most of Lovecraft's longer works. Necronomicon-related stories here include "At the Mountains of Madness"*, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward","The Dreams in the Witch House", and "Through the Gates of the Silver Key".
-. Dagon and Other Macabre Tales. Sauk City: Arkham House. 1987.
Collects most of the stories left out of the other two Arkham collections. Includes "The Descendant", "The Festival", "The Hound"*, and "The Nameless City" *. The timeline of Lovecraft's fiction at the back is invaluable.
-. The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death. New York: Ballantine. 1995.
This anthology is based around stories inspired by Lovecraft's dreams. It includes "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", "The Descendant", "The Dreams in the Witch-House", "The Hound"*, "The Nameless City"*, and "Through the Gates of the Silver Key".
-. The Dunwich Horror and Others. Corrected edition. Sauk City: Arkham House. 1984.
-. The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Supernatural. New York: Ballantine. 1982.
Lovecraft's works have been re-published often, but these two have done the most to preserve his work. Arkham House's books are hardcover, and their texts have been corrected by Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi. Ballantine's are cheaper and easier to find, but the text is not quite as pure. The contents of these anthologies overlap somewhat, so I have listed them together.
These books contain what are considered to be Lovecraft's best works. The following stories mention the Necronomicon: "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Dunwich Horror" *, "The Haunter of the Dark", "The Shadow out of Time", "The Thing on the Doorstep", "The Whisperer in Darkness". The Ballantine edition also includes "The Dreams in the Witch-House".
-. "History of the Necronomicon". Available here or (with commentary by S. T. Joshi) from Necronomicon Press.
"History" is a pseudo-scholarly essay written about the Necronomicon by H. P. Lovecraft and not published until after his death. The Necronomicon Press pamphlet is a facsimile of its original printing by Wilson Shepherd's The Rebel Press (Oakman, Alabama) in 1938; contact them for ordering information.
-. The Horror in the Museum. Corrected edition. Sauk City: Arkham House. 1989.
A work covering most of the stories which Lovecraft revised for others. Lovecraft inserted Necronomicon references into "The Diary of Alonzo Typer", "The Horror in the Museum", "The Last Test", "Medusa's Coil", and "Out of the Aeons".
-. Selected Letters. Sauk City, Arkham House. Various dates. 5 vols.
Lovecraft wrote tens of thousands of letters, most of which have never seen print. Lovecraft's Selected Letters have appeared in a five-volume set from Arkham House (Sauk City, WI). These books have a tendency to appear and disappear; check with them to see which ones are available. I have listed some references of interest to Necronomicon scholars below. Necronomicon Press carries a number of chapbooks containing Lovecraft's letters to individual correspondents. They have also released an Index to the Selected Letters, though this may be out of print.
Selected Letters I: The first mention of the Necronomicon, and the origin of "Abdul Alhazred" (p. 299).
Selected Letters II: An early draft of "History of the Necronomicon" (201).
Selected Letters III: The Necronomicon is his own creation (166); a creative anecdote about the book's supposed history (218-9).
Selected Letters IV: Writing the Necronomicon is a task far past him (39); the Necronomicon is his own creation (346); how he created the names supposedly from the Necronomicon (387-8).
Selected Letters V: The Necronomicon is his own creation (16, 226, 285-6); how the names "Necronomicon", "Alhazred", and "Al Azif" came about (418).
-. The Transition of H. P. Lovecraft: The Road to Madness. New York: Ballantine. 1996.
Another grab-bag anthology. This one includes "At the Mountains of Madness"* and "The Festival".
Lovecraft, H. P. (pseud.) "Excerpts from the Necronomicon of Abdul Alhazred." Paragon 3. 1970. pp. 11, 13.
Supposedly a hoax concocted by the editors of the magazine. If you know where to find a copy, please let us know.
-. Necronomicon: Il Libro Segreto di H. P. Lovecraft. Rome: Fanucci Editore. 1994.
Lovecraft's name on the cover of this book does not mean that he has anything to do with the contents. The book is mainly a translation of the Hay Necronomicon, along with some material pirated from the Simon version.
-. Necronomicon 2: La Tomba di Alhazred. Rome: Fanucci Editore. 1997.
Surprisingly, this book actually contains a little Lovecraft material, though the majority is devoted to the "discovery" of the tomb of Abdul Alhazred (whose computer-generated reconstruction bears a suspicious resemblance to Donovan Loucks).
Lovecraft, H. P. and August Derleth. "History and Chronology of the Necronomicon, Together With Some Pertinent Paragraphs by August Derleth". The Arkham Sampler. Winter 1948. pp. 15-19.
A reprint of "History of the Necronomicon", along with some notes by August Derleth on the Philip Duschnes hoax (a bookseller who included an entry for the Necronomicon in his catalog).
Lovecraft, H. P. and divers hands. Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Golden anniversary anthology. Sauk City: Arkham House. 1990.
This book was previously published in 1969, and differs in the contents of only a few stories. Both include Frank Belknap Long's "The Space-Eaters" (the first non-Lovecraft story to mention the Necronomicon), Clark Ashton Smith's "The Return of the Sorcerer" (includes a copy of the Arabic version), and Colin Wilson's "The Return of the Lloigor" (the first link between the Necronomicon and the mysterious Voynich Manuscript).
Low, Colin. "The Necronomicon Anti-FAQ". At various websites.
Suggests that Lovecraft learned about the Necronomicon because his wife, Sonia Greene, was a former lover of Aleister Crowley. The work is an admitted hoax.
Nagasiva, Tyagi. "Liber Grimoiris: The Parallels of East and West Termas, Grimoires and the Necronomicon." At various websites.
Notes the similarities between the Necronomicon and the holy texts of certain religious traditions, and calls for a subjective evaluation of the published versions. While there are certainly other ways to judge these books, the author argues his point intelligently.
Nomolos, Yaj. The History of the Necronomicon and the Sword. No publisher given. No date given.
This pamphlet is mostly photocopied material from other sources. In a brief essay in the middle, the author claims that the sigils on a sword in his possession prove that the Simon Necronomicon is real. The argument is unconvincing, to say the least.
Ollar Ezharzi, Frater. "Liber Azif: A Study of the Avon Necronomicon". Cincinnati: Black Moon Publishing. 1990.
A short Thelemic piece on the symbolism in the Magan Text of the Simon Necronomicon.
Owings, Mark and Jack Chalker. The Necronomicon: A Study. Baltimore: Mirage. 1967.
A brief work dealing with the Necronomicon in fiction. Includes Lovecraft's "History", quotations by various authors, and "The Existing Copies: A Bibliobiography", which lists the book's fictional appearances.
Pelton, Fred L. The Sussex Manuscript.
The first attempt to create a book-length Necronomicon, Pelton created this book during the 1940s. It was considered briefly for publication by Arkham House. The Manuscript's contents have been reprinted in the Eastertide 1989 issue of Crypt of Cthulhu and Price's Necronomicon, but the original - an illuminated manuscript - has vanished with Pelton's heirs.
Pizzari, Pietro. Necronomicon: Magia Nera in un Manoscritto della Biblioteca Vaticana. Rome: Atanor. 1993.
The earliest Italian Necronomicon I have seen.
Price, Robert M. "Hexes and Hoaxes: The Curious Career of Lovecraft's Necronomicon". The Twilight Zone Magazine. Decenber 1984. pp. 59-65.
A good introduction to the Necronomicon controversy, aimed for popular consumption.
-. "Lovecraft's Necronomicon: An Introduction." Crypt of Cthulhu. St. John's Eve. 1984.
Price discusses the apparent contradictions in Lovecraft's depiction of the Necronomicon, and attempts to arrive at an imaginative solution.
Price, Robert M., ed. The Necronomicon: Short Stories and Essays Concerning the Blasphemous Tome of the Mad Arab. Oakland: Chaosium. 1996.
This work collects a number of short stories about the Necronomicon, as well as some attempts at creating the book by Fred Pelton, Lin Carter, and others. The book is rounded out with Price's "A Critical Commentary on the Necronomicon", a look at the quotes from the Necronomicon in different authors' stories.
Pritchard, James B., ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1950.
Take a careful look at the "Babylonian Creation Epic" and the two tales of Ishtar's descent into the underworld, and compare them to the versions in the Simon book.
Ripel, Frank G. La Magia Stellare: Il Vero Necronomicon. Rome: Hermes Edizioni, SRL. 1988 (?).
Shepard, Leslie. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Detroit: Gale Research Company. 1984-5. vol. 2:938-9.
Deals briefly with Lovecraft's creation of the book, and with the appearance of the Hay Necronomicon.
Simon (pseudonym). Gates of the Necronomicon. New York: Magickal Childe. Never printed.
The manuscript to this book was lost after Herman Slater, owner of the Magickal Childe bookstore, passed away. Magickal Childe has advertised it as being published, but don't waste your time and money trying to get it.
-. Necronomicon. (Hardcover) Long Island: Schlangekraft, Inc. 1977. (Paperback) New York: Avon Books. 1980.
Most likely a modern fake - and I only qualify that because its author hasn't confessed yet. I've discussed my reasons for this conclusion in the Dialogue and in the book, so I won't go into them again here. The book is a poor reference source on Lovecraft and Mesopotamian myth, and should not be taken as authoritative on either.
-. Necronomicon Spellbook (originally The Necronomicon Report). New York: Magickal Childe. 1981, 1987. Also New York: Avon Books. October 1998.
A guide to invoking the Fifty Names of Marduk from the Simon Necronomicon. If you see this book, note that Simon's biography and the manuscript's origin have changed, and that the procedure described for using the Names differs considerably from that given in the Necronomicon.
-. Necronomicon Workshop tapes. New York: Magickal Childe. 1981.
Tapes of a lecture put on by Simon on the use of the Necronomicon. Among other things, it tells us what the grass olierobos is (hint: it's NOT marijuana!).
Tahuti. Necronomicon Revelations. Palm Springs: International Guild of Occult Sciences. 1997(?). (wanted)
Mostly a reprint of Simon's Necronomicon Spellbook, with a few extra notes on using the sigils. Went out of print rapidly when Avon re-released the Spellbook.
Tallqvist, Knut L. Die Assyrische Beschwörungsserie Maqlû Nach den Originalen im British Museum Herausgegeben. Helsingfors. 1895.
One of the sources used for the Simon Necronomicon.
Thill, Christophe et. al. "Moi y en vouloir le Necronomicon." In Le Bulletin de l'Université de Miskatonic. No. 4. 1998. pp. 145-151.
Includes two short pieces by Thill on "History of the Necronomicon" and the hoax Necronomicons, some notes on the Simon book by Karyn Tranquilson, and another piece on the Simon book by Daniel Harms and John Gonce.
Thomas, Alric. The Hidden Key of the Necronomicon. Palm Springs: International Guild of Occult Sciences. 1996.
Displays some suggested changes in the Simon book's diagrams. A $35 book with less than 20 pages of text. May be out of print.
Turner, Robert, ed. The R'lyeh Text: Hidden Leaves from the Necronomicon. London: Skoob Esoterica. 1995.
The sequel to Hay's Necronomicon. This book contains very little Necronomicon-related material at all. The most intriguing thing about it is perhaps the alligator on the cover, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the book.
Wilson, Colin. "The Necronomicon: The Origin of A Spoof". In Crypt of Cthulhu. St. John's Eve, 1984. pp. 14-16.
Wilson admits that the Hay Necronomicon is a hoax concocted by him and a few friends.
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