The Necronomicon

by George Hay

Book Overview

The creation of Necronomicon is usually ascribed to Lovecraft. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0552980935
• ISBN13: 9780552980937
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: Publisher Not Specified
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Nothing to do with H.P. Lovecraft, really

There are a great many legendary books, which either exist, are rumored to exist, or are fabricated from whole cloth. The Necronomicon (meaning roughly, The Paths of the Dead) fits the catagory in all three ways. The legend has it that Lovecraft heard of the book (through a friend who was an Ordo Templis Orientalis member), whose title was known in occult circles long before him, and was fascinated by the mere sound of it. There was no earlier mention of it being compiled, translated, or edited by any mad Arab scholar. Lovecraft seized upon the notion of a real ancient "grimoire" with gleeful abandon. It gave to his dark tales an even darker backdrop of ancient things malignant and vengeful. The book itself appears to be a romantisized 19th century compilation of Sumerian and Chaldian lore which at that time was just beginning to reappear (the cuniform writing recently decoded) in the world. Very heavy stuff for its (pre-Hollywood) time. The late 19th century saw the rise of modern Occultism (mainly starting with Helen Blavatsky in the 1870s) which delights in ancient religion, myth, and ritual. Putting all such trappings aside, the Necronomicon can be seen for what it actually is - a first hand glance into the mindset of a world view and civilization which existed (and fully functioned) thousands of years before the more recent Judeo-Christian ethos came into being. The Necronomicon is an insight into history, not gothic fiction.

Embrace the nothingness

Who cares wheter its true or not, what is fact anyway! why bother attempting to explain ones view of reality, when its all so lucid anway? The point is, belief creates reality, therefore, if one was to truly believe that this book dose what it says it can do, then the spells in it will work. After all its not about the demons, or the gods, or the FACTS, its about the primal human ability to alter their environment through magickal means. after all the only thing that exists is nothing.

extreemly well done

This is rediculous! I think that people should stop rating the book on whether or not it is authentic. First of all, those of you interested in raising demons should think twice. Personally, I do not think they exist, the key word being think. If they do it would be folly to asume you could control such a creature, and letting such an abomination loose on Earth would be monstrous. For those of you taking a sterile, purely scientific view of the book, ease up. I to am 99.9999% sure that it is a work of fiction. However, it is an extreemly eloquent work of fiction and should be considered a testament to the awesome and unbridaled immagination that Lovecraft had at his command. Read the book, enjoy it, and pray to all you hold dear that it is a hoax. If any of it is real, we're in it up to our ears.

This book is a great hoax. 5 stars for that!

I have been a Lovecraft fan for long and I am absolutely convinced the Necronomicon never existed outside Lovecraft's mind. Still, you can only be 99% sure, and that's what's fun about it. However, this hoax is so well done it ends up being quite an interesting item for anyone interested in Lovecraft or even occultism. David Langford once published an interesting article about his participation in this project (which is actually one of the best things in the book)in the magazine Fortean Times.The Simon Necronomicon is much cruder than this one.

Terrific! (Glad it's not true!)

This book is a little gem - almost a textbook example of how to do a plausible and fascinating hoax (And it is, by the way, far superior to the Simon "Necronomicon", which is so popular, and which I'd recommend avoiding at all costs). A must for all Lovecraft fans!