In 1927, Lovecraft wrote the "History of the Necronomicon" as a tongue-in-cheek history of his mythical book. He said he did it to give "a sort of air of verisimilitude." Doubtless also to be sure that all the other writers who were making reference to the Necronomicon would be consistent.

According to Lovecraft's "History," the Necronomicon was written in the 8th Century AD by the "mad Arab" Alhazred, and was translated into Greek under the title Necronomicon by Theodorus Philetas in AD 950, then into Latin by Olias Wormius in 1228. (The real Wormius--a Danish doctor--lived from 1588 to 1654.) An "imperfect" English translation was supposedly made by Dr. John Dee (1527-1608), an English mathematician and astrologer. And so on. Lovecraft thus created a detailed background for his imaginary book.

When fans wrote Lovecraft in the 1930s to ask if these books were real, he replied truthfully (as quoted above.) In a 1936 letter, for instance, he says, "I am forced to say that most of them are purely imaginary. There never was any Abdul Alhazred or Necronomicon, for I invented these names myself."

Could he have been lying? Doubtful. Joshi says that he seems to have been a very truthful person. It would have a been a long-standing and consistent lie. But more telling is that there is simply no other historical reference to a "Necronomicon" or to "Alhazred" until Lovecraft started writing about them. Nor to the various Old Ones (like Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth)--no mention anywhere before Lovecraft's.

Long after Lovecraft's death, several books appeared, sold privately or in bookstores, purporting to be new translations (or rediscovered copies) of the Necronomicon. Most of these are clearly spoofs or in-jokes. There are just under a dozen versions floating about, including one by Lin Carter and one by L. Sprague DeCamp, famous science fiction writers in their own right. All of them have an initial appearance that post-dates Lovecraft, usually by over 35 years.

There is the "Necronomicon of George Hay" (first published in 1978), claiming to be the English translation by John Dee, taken from a copy in the British Museum. Joshi calls it "one of the most exquisite hoaxes of modern times." Critic Colin Wilson (who wrote the intro to the Hay Necronomicon) admitted in a 1984 fanzine that it was a joke, concocted by him and a few friends.

The most commonly found version nowadays, and the only one that is not openly admitted by the author to be a joke or spoof, is the "Simon Necronomicon," published in 1977. The introduction claims it to be a translation of a Sumerian original, but it mentions gods and stories that are much later. There are other internal inconsistencies as well. Dan Clore says, "These hoax Necronomicons frequently display an utter lack of verisimilitude [in their content and in their introductions] where a little research would have provided a much more convincing story."
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If that is not enough for the idiots attaching it to Wormius, (impossible, since Wormius lived two centuries different, unless you think he extended his life, but kept his name, which doesn't appear anywhere before the time he lived). Why are people so interested things that didn't really exist, when there are more fantastic real characters out there? John Dee, Faustus, and Aggrippa come to mind (though Crowley doesn't, being an idiot and all that).
The Necronomicon (the title being an easy give away, ripped straight from the 'Satyricon') doesn't live up to Lovecraft's fantastic style, however, and it certainly would be an embarrassment to him to be associated with it. A true Lovecraft fan, I bought it young, and discarded it as useless after reading and checking the (bad) information out (check your information)! If your reading for entertainment value, you should pick up your local phone book. If your looking to create magical spells ala Harry Potter, you'd have better luck chanting your local phone book. This book is ludicrous in the extreme, and certainly not worth anyone's time or money. Check it out from the library if you're really curious. For some more serious books, however, check out the 'Leyden Papyrus' or 'Hermes Emerald Tablet', which are indeed, ancient magical scrolls. If magic exists, you're not likely to find it in a popular trade paperback format, and without question, not in this one.


It's time for a lot of people to wake up...   July 7, 2000
 83 out of 115 found this review helpful

The dreaded Necronomicon in mass market paperback? I'm sure while many teenagers will rush out and buy this to rebel against their parents or impress their Marilyn Manson-listening buddies, many so-called 'magicians' and 'wizards' or whatever are horrified that such a forbidden book is now readily available at the nearest Barnes & Nobles. Does this sound believable? No, but this is - H.P. Lovecraft, an author most of the people who will buy this volume have never even heard of. Read his fiction - his fiction - and you will find the Necronomicon. Fiction. Mr. Lovecraft was once asked if he would ever write the Necronomicon, and responded that no, he wouldn't, because it would end up sounding fake and pretentious. Well, guess what? Some fool wrote it, and it sounds fake and downright silly. So, please, don't rob a Master of one of his greatest works - go read his stories, not a cash-in by a wannabe occultist. Want to read some real scary fiction, check out any of Lovecraft's stories, or 'La Bas' by Huysman, 'Who Goes There?' by Campbell or read some great 'real' writings like Remy's 'Demonolatry' or De Quincy's 'Confessions of an English Opium Eater' and leave the garbage to sit on the shelves. In Lovecraft's writings, the Necronomicon was always found worm-eaten and leather-bound in some old cathedral or mansion. Even you die-hard occult fans have to admit - would any truly powerful book, one that can invoke demons and spirits, come in paperback?


The 'scientific' approach   June 2, 2000
 36 out of 50 found this review helpful

It seems that almost everyone has an opinion about this work. I shall not add myself to this list of people. Opinions are for armchair-occultists and coffee-breaks. I really wish I didn't have to rate this book, because it is a blessing and a curse depending on whose hands are holding it. Nevertheless, I will write this review in light of what reviews I have read so far. So let's get started! First of all, the debate of whether this book was written in the 20th century or not is not relevant to the subject it covers. Would, for example, Agrippa's works be less valid if he wrote them today? Luckily, I obtained this book before people began debunking it. I therefore took it at face value. I had some prior knowledge of magick, and this book 'filled the shoe'. Fact: I had easy results using this book. Fact: Strange phenonema occured while just reproducing some of the seals on paper. Fact: merely reading it increased my hypnagogic activity to a nightly basis. Fact: Trying a ritual by the ocean at night once produced intense UFO-phenonema which forced me and two friends to run away because of sheer fear. I could go on considerably, because the powers of the sumerian/babylonian/assyrian deities are easily contacted with this book and by using it, they become integrated with your life in a very real way. One could claim that this was all in my own head, but on several occasions I shared these experiences with other people around me, some who had no clue what the necronomicon even was. Collective hallucinations? Perhaps, but what exactly are collective hallucinations? In fear of rambling like the Mad Arab himself, I will conclude this review with the following: Magick is about creating your own reality. The occult is the hidden, the unknown. Whether these things stem from the far reaches of the interdimensional universe or from within the dark confounds of the mind really seizes to make any difference at some point. This point begins and ends with the necronomicon!


FORGET THE BOOK - THE REAL HOOTS ARE THE NAIVE REVIEWS....   November 9, 1999
 26 out of 30 found this review helpful

LOVED both Crowley and Lovecraft since childhood... how nice to read a creative grimoire that has some of the "spirit' of both! Does it work? Of course, if you make it so. "Alice in Wonderland" is a great grimoire if you approach it properly (ask any quantum physicist). Is this or any of the other "Necronomicons" a work of fiction? Who cares? Remember, Crowley often used fiction and poetry as prime source material and Wicca was reconstructed by an anthropologist or two in the 1950s (despite all the bogus "family tradition" people who suddenly appeared in the '60s). Even so, these arts really DO work - it's not the veracity of the reputed source that makes your Magick work, it's your MIND and your SPIRIT!........ On the lighter side, check out the many reviews below and the reviewers' constant trumpeting of their esoteric credentials... "I'm Frater Hoo-Ha and I've read my Lovecraft"...."I'm a Certified Crone, and these others don't know what they're talking about," etc., (methinks they do protest too much.) Remember, gentle Sabrina-and-Buffy-watchers, everybody else has already read the same mass-produced books (on magic or by Lovecraft) that YOU have read! Oh, well...


SERIOUS OCCULTISTS...PLEASE see this for what it is!   February 8, 2000
 23 out of 28 found this review helpful

By his own admission, we know Lovecraft invented the legendary Necronomicon; it was a pure fabrication, a fictional tome serving as one of the many devices he utilized to tie the works of his "Cthulhu Mythos" together. Lovecraft's Necronomicon was not inspired by any "real" medieval magical grimoire (Abdul Al Hazred is a fictional character), rather HPL took his inspiration for the literary Necronomicon from "The King In Yellow", a series of stories by Robert W. Chambers in which Hastur, The Yellow Sign, Carcossa, Hali and the evil tome The King In Yellow itself first appear in American horror literature. Never-the-less, many fans of Lovecraft refused to believe that the Necronomicon was a fabrication.... And writers like this mysterious "Simon" are reaping the benefits of this naive misconception. What the "editor" has done here is present a primer on traditional ceremonial magic (in the tradition of MacGregor Mather's Golden Dawn and Crowley's A.A.), spruced it up with some (possibly authentic) Sumero-Babylonian mysticism, and then shamelessly worked in modified names of Lovecraftian beasties (Xastur=Hastur, Azag-Thoth=Azathoth, Ishniggarub=Shubniggurath)and then marketed this hodge podge under the name "Necronomicon" hoping that Lovecraft fans would buy it thinking it was real. He apparently was not disappointed... The only reason I gave this dishonest work two stars is because the intro information on Crowley is informative and the rituals themselves (if you can excuse the occasional use of Lovecraft's creatures' names) are apparently based on actual Golden Dawn magic ceremonies and authentic Sumerian traditions. So, the book is not totally useless, I just wish the original content (sans Lovecraft) would have been presented under a different name (and the fact that it wasn't is inexcusable and dishonors HPL, Crowley, and any serious practitioner of ceremonial magic). Do the rituals work? I don't know...I don't have the guts to try them out!