Necronomicon, The

Necronomicon, The

The name that author Howard Phillips Lovecraft gave to a fictional book described as the most evil book in the world. Its full title was Necronomicon, also known as Kithab Al Azif, the Book of the Names of the Dead, unholy masterpiece of the madman Abdhl' Al Hazred. It was a complete fabrication of Lovecraft's, created to give more substance to his stories, yet it has been seized upon to the point where various editions have been published, each claiming to be the actual book. Some of these have been produced with tongue in cheek, others as out-and-out fakes. Copies and translations have been produced by L. Sprague De Camp; Colin Wilson with George Hay, David Langford, and Robert Turner; "Simon"; Frank G. Ripel; Lin Carter; and others.

The Necronomicon was supposedly written about 735 CE. A Greek translation was made in 950 CE and a Latin one in 1228. It was said that Dr. John Dee made an English translation, although that was never published. All of these "translations," of course, are as fictitious as the original.