The Necronomicon or The Book Of The Dead. Necronomicon First mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story "The Hound",written in 1922,though its purported author,the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred,had been quoted a year earlier in Lovecraft's "The Nameless City". Among other things,the work contains an account of the Old Ones,their history,and the means for summoning them. Other authors such as August Derleth and Clark Ashton Smith also cited it in their works; Lovecraft approved,believing such common allusions built up "a background of evil verisimilitude." WHERE POSSIBLE,the Editor has taken every opportunity to find the original Sumerian or Akkadian translation of a given Greek charm or conjuration. The original title Al Azif - azif being the word used by the Arabs to designate that nocturnal sound (made by insects) supposed to be the howling of daemons. Composed by Abdul Alhazred,a mad poet of Sana,in Yemen,who is said to have flourished during the period of the Ommiade caliphs,circa 700 A. D. He visited the ruins of Babylon & the subterranean secret of Memphis & spent ten years alone in the great southern desert of Arabia - the Roba El Khaliyeh or "Empty Space" of the ancients - & "Dahna" or "Crimson" desert of the modern Arabs,which is held to be inhabited by protective evil spirits & monsters of death. Is the Necronomicon a real work or a hoax?Read it all if you dare. It contains the means to conjure the foulest Gods and Demons from the darkest reaches of cold Space! However,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,and not gothic fiction.