Necronomicon: Encyclopedia II - Necronomicon - The book

Necronomicon - The book

Lovecraft often referenced fictional works in his horror fiction, a practice used by earlier writers (like Edgar Allen Poe), and common among subsequent fantasy authors like Jorge Luis Borges and William Goldman. The Necronomicon was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1923 short story "The Hound", though hints of it (or similar books) appear as far back as "The Statement of Randolph Carter" (1919). In the stories, the book is dangerous to read because it is often harmful to the health and sanity of its readers. For this reason, libraries keep it under lock and key.

Capitalizing on the notoriety of the fictional tome, real-life publishers have printed many books entitled Necronomicon since Lovecraft's death.

Necronomicon - Origin

How Lovecraft conceived the name "Necronomicon" is not clear—Lovecraft himself claimed that the title came to him in a dream. Perhaps he was influenced by Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" and an unfinished first century astronomical poem by Roman poet Marcus Manilius titled the Astronomicon. Although some have suggested that Lovecraft was influenced primarily by Robert W. Chambers' collection of short stories, The King in Yellow, it is now believed that Lovecraft did not read that work until 1927.

Lovecraft originally titled the book the Al Azif (from Arabic, meaning the sound of cicadas and other nocturnal insects, which folklore claims is the conversations of demons) and said that it was written by the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred. Among other things, the work contained an account of the Old Ones, their history, and the means for summoning them.

Necronomicon - Fictional history

According to Lovecraft, Alhazred wrote the original text in Damascus around 730 AD, but a number of translations were made over the centuries. The Greek translation, which gave the book its most famous title, was made by a (fictional) Orthodox scholar, Theodorus Philetas of Constantinople circa 950 AD. Olaus Wormius (an actual historical person wrongly placed by Lovecraft in the thirteenth century) translated it into Latin and indicated in the preface that the Arabic original was lost. This translation was printed twice: In the fifteenth century, evidently in Germany in black-letter, and in the seventeenth, probably in Spain.

When the Latin translation called attention to the Necronomicon, it was banned by Pope Gregory IX in 1232. The Greek translation, printed in Italy between 1500 and 1550, was probably lost when fire destroyed R. U. Pickman's library in Salem. The Elizabethan magician John Dee allegedly had a copy (an idea suggested to Lovecraft by his friend Frank Belknap Long) and is thought to have made an English translation, of which only fragments survive.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The book", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki