The long lost sorcerer's handbook, compiled in 800 A.D. by the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazzred lives on in the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft...

More fun ads like this here: https://archive.org/details/ads_20230409/page/n47/mode/2up

If it 'ain't bound in human fleah, it 'ain't the real thing

There's some good stories in this collection... I might have to give it a go again

I have a necronomicon :) My friend got it for me as a housewarming gift many many years ago.

Mine is a lot thicker than that one, though? I’d love to see one of these in person to compare them.

$50 in the 90s for a book...these guys knew their objective for sure.

For those interested, this is the so-called Simon Necronomicon. It’s a peculiar thing and not the real one, if there ever was. Still mighty fun.

Multiple people wrote a "necronomicon" the most famous one(Which might be this one, it looks similar), is Simon's Necronomicon. It got the most traction as a tool for chaos magic despite being panned(like every other necronomicon) as being a fraud.

So you might have a different necronomicon from a different author.

KLAATU... VERATA... N--... necktie...

Looks really cool!

despite being panned(like every other necronomicon) as being a fraud

is there any indication that it was ever a real book, even apocryphally? I thought it was wholly invented by Lovecraft, did he get it from somewhere else? and if not, what does it mean to be a "fraud" of an entirely fictional book?

I have read it. It is lame. The only cool part is that sigil on the cover.

No stories here, unfortunately. Just a bunch of wack-ass spells.

It was invented by Lovecraft. The authors cashing in on it by writing versions of it are all from long after he had died.

Might not be the real thing, but it does come with an orb to ponder.

I can't imagine the utter disappointment of the undoubtedly many customers receiving their order an unpacking it: the real Necronomicon was supposed to be bound in human skin while this one is in mere leather (real or faux?) ;)

Damn (if I dare say so), I was grilled ;)

Yeah, to do anything cool you need that pesky copper dagger of inannu

Yeah fraud is the wrong word for this as there is no original book. At least Simon's was written by a guy who did practice ritual magic and was somewhat recognized in the NY occult scene. I don't know about the others so they may be more obvious cash grabs.

Oh I thought it was this collection of short stories https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1335019.Necronomicon

I thought it was wholly invented by Lovecraft

Yeah I think that's right. Here's a wikipedia entry. Lovecraft invented it and developed a fictional history for it, but he never wrote it as a book. It was a fictional book that made appearances in the mythos of his actual books.

I've read a bunch of Lovecraft, and enjoyed most of it. IMO he was shit at character development, but fantastic at creating a mythos and foreboding atmosphere of evil lurking just under the surface.