A History of the Necronomicon

A tome of evil madness, the Necronomicon was composed (c.700AD) in the ancient city of Damascus, by the demented poet Abdul Alhazred. Its original title "The Howling of Daemons" (from the Arabic, Al-Azif) was changed to the "Necronomicon" in 950AD by Theodorus Philetas when he translated the original from Arabic to Greek.

In an attempt to stem the tide of thaumaturgical experimentation encouraged by the horrific contents of the manuscript every copy that could be found was burned by Patriarch Michael in 1050AD, but to no avail. This terrible text seemed to have a life of its own, perhaps drawing protection from the very daemons whose 'howlings' were transcribed therein.

Almost two centuries had past until a new edition of the dark work appeared when Olaus Wormius produced a Latin translation in 1228. Did Wormius produce his copy from the Greek version or from the original? No one alive can tell but it is known that about this time the original Al-Azif disappeared from the face of the earth and no one knows what evil land it inhabits.

In the year 1232 it was banned by Pope Gregory IX, but the Latin edition was printed in German black-text c.1400 and again in the 1600's in Spain. The Greek translation of this wicked volume was printed in Italy between 1500 and 1550 but followed the original Arabic into oblivion by 1692.

The only five copies known to exist in our time are the Latin versions, one from the 1400's in the British Museum and four from 1600, at the Widener Library, Harvard University, the University of Buenos Aires, Bibliotech National in Paris and one at the Miskatonic University in Arkham.

Text of Forbidden Lore

There, at Arkham, it has its well deserved place amongst the most infamous books of mystic lore, "De Vermis Mysteriis" by Ludvig Prinn, "Unaussprechlichen Kulten" by Fredrich von Junzt and the unattributed "Book of Eibon".

What is it about the Necronomicon, what quality of horror does it share with those penultimate texts of forbidden lore?

The trait they all share in common is that each was created by a modern fiction writer for their own literary purposes. De Vermis Mysteriis was created by the science fiction writer Robert Bloch, Book of Eibon by Clark Ashton Smith, the unpronounceable Kulten by the creator of Conan, Robert E. Howard. the Necronomicon, its history, Miskatonic U. and Arkham were all invented by H.P. Lovecraft.

Commercial Spin-offs

Many commercial versions have made their way into the story, such as the 1973 Owlslick Press edition in the 'undecipherable language', Duriac, with introduction by another science fiction writer L. Sprague de Camp. In the late 1970's, the 'Simon' version of Necronomicon went paperback and by 2006 had sold 800,000 copies with a number of spin-offs.

And who can forget the 1963 screenplay produced by the talented writer, Charles Beaumont. By weaving an H.P. Lovecraft story with a poem from Edgar Allan Poe and starring Vincent Price and Lon Chaney, Jr. he created "The Haunted Palace", in which the Necronomicon appeared on screen not once but twice.

Astral Book

One of the most curious concepts regarding the existence of the book was proposed in 1972 when a disciple of the modern mystic Aleister Crowley suggested that the Necronomicon was an 'astral book', part of the Akashic records, that could be accessed only by ritual magic or in dreams.

Even while Lovecraft was still alive there were authors referencing the Necronomicon in their own works of horror and fiction. Lovecraft was magnanimous about this, even enjoyed it, saying, "Such allusions create a background of evil verisimilitude."