The Real Necronomicon!, August 18, 2001

This booklet does not contain the blasphemous secrets of the dread Necronomicon, nor do I suspect the many works masquerading under that name do. It is, however a reprint of a pamphlet published in 1938 and written in the finest Lovecraftian style. In the article he throws out historical names and dates to establish credibility, and admits his own ignorance about certain parts of the book's shaded past to make the work seem bigger than himself.

The best thing about "The History of the Necronomicon" is that it is printed from a scan of the original (1938) pamphlet and the fonts are just slightly marred (but still totally legible) enough to seem mysterious and arcane. An afterword by S.T. Joshi is included in the booklet, in which he explains that the number one reason many people today believe that the cursed Necronomicon is a real book is because of this pamphlet. Lovecraft wrote it as a matter-of-fact history, but, Joshi says, the letters H.P.L. wrote to his friends explain how he came up with the name of the book.

Even if you refuse to accept the arguments that the Necronomicon is a product of Lovecraft's imagination, this pamphlet is probably as close to the real Necronomicon as you can get... unless you can gain access to the vault of the Miskatonic University Library, in whose eldritch halls a cl