Is the Necronomicon real?

Question

According to previous questions here, Lovecraft made it up.

However, according to H. R. Giger, in his bio book called ARh+

I quote, "fragments of this necronomicon (Al Azif) survive today, some of them in the British Museum of London"

Can someone please confirm this as a fact or a lie?

so the real question is:

Are there really fragments in that museum?

or is Giger lying in his book?

Answer 1

They use the book in the movies Evil Dead 1 and 2, and in Army of Darkness. The book is in the museum. It is one of five copy's  H.P.Lovecraft wrote. If you look it up on wikipedia, it will tell you the whole story of the book.

Answer 2

I'll try to link to one of my previous best answers to answer the question in bold.  To summarize, Lovecraft made it up, however there have been several books, since the revival of interest in his work since the sixties, which have taken the title.  For more information my answer is in sources and while I'm sorry to blow my own horn, what those books are is pretty complicated.

Of all people, I don't want to call H. R. Giger a liar.  I'm good at saying nasty things about people but what Giger comes up with is so unpredictable, I know he's been right when he sounded wrong, and I know he's occasionally been fooled by some blatant hoaxes.  I suspect he has also stretched the truth in the past, but I haven't read ARh+ so I am in no position to judge.  The Al Azif Lovecraft wrote about does not exist so no fragments are in the British Museum.  That does not mean there are no fragments of an Arabic book of spells there, just that the Necronomicon Lovecraft wrote about does not exist.

Answer 3

This is from a copy of the "Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft," by Rosemary Guiley, published in 1989:

"Lovecraft wrote about the book in his fiction and acquired a cult of followers who believe that it actually exists... The Necronomicon was born of Lovecraft's fertile imagination in his 1936 essay, 'A History of The Necronomicon.' ... some of Lovecraft's fans [believed] a real grimoire titled The Necronomicon existed. Book sellers received requests for it. As of the late 1980s, at least two versions of the 'real' Necronomicon had been published."

From some looking into this I did myself a few years before Wikipedia existed, if memory serves, the supposed author, Al Hazred, was a play  on the name of someone named "Hazzard" (sp?) with whom Lovecraft had had some relation. (I don't recall the specifics.)

The site, www.hplovecraft.com, has quite a bit of info on Necronomicon theory and myth. The Necronomicons in the Evil Dead movies were props, and there were several of them. Just listen to the commentary on various versions of Army of Darkness.

As for whether Giger is lying or not: perhaps not lying, but rather speaking hearsay, intentionally misleading, or stretching the truth.

Addendum:

Ok, so now I'm looking in the Lovecraft chronology in my copy of "Dagon and Other Macabre Tales" (of Lovecraft), which puts the writing of "The Hound" in September 1922. Having now turned to "The Hound" in Dagon, I have found the word Necronomicon on about page 5 of the story, so that sort of discredits the Encyclopedia I referenced earlier, which said it came from a 1936 essay.

Regardless, I have my doubts that a book called "The Necronomicon" actually exists that was published pre-20th-century, although I'm certain there are many "books of the dead" (both recent and ancient) with contents that bear a striking similarity to Lovecraft's imagination.

Answer 4

I think the idea and name was taken from a real work by the astrologer John Dee. The was called the Necrinominon, I think, and was a series of notes and studies that he made over a period of time. He was responsible for the Enochian magic and correspondences.

Answer 5

No, a real Necronomicon does not exist and never has. There are, however, at least five fake Necronomicons.

And lomax points out a very valid point I never even noticed before. Thanks  : )

Answer 6

Fiction fiction fiction!

People get confused cos Lovecraft mixes the names of real books with ficitonal ones he and his friends made up to mention in their 1930s pulp fiction.

Penguin has an excellent two volume set of Lovecraft's stories with notes that explain his citation of imaginary antiquarian occult texts.

Some scholars think he may have heard of the Voynich Manuscript and got the idea from that.

Enjoy Lovecraft as fiction but remember he was a writer with an interest in antiquarian issues and folklore !  

Answer 7

Necronomicon is an anagram of "Nice con, moron."

Answer 8

my favorite spell from the necronomicon is that you must forge a silver amulet during a full moon in the night air without any moonlight hitting upon it.  Somehow it strikes me as just plain absolutely stupid.  How do you do it in the night air during a full moon without any moonlight at all?

The Mad Arab, aka Lovecraft made that whole thing up as a way to try and get more readers interested in his cthulu works of the ancient gods.

Absolutely freakin' fiction.