Re: And another...

[Steve Kudlak <chromexa@xxxxxxxx>]

Daniel Harms wrote:

>         I just remembered this, which might be of interest to the list re.
> invented scripts:
>
>         One of the first Necronomicon hoaxes on the market was the
> _Al Azif_, published by Owlswick Press and with a foreward by L. Sprague
> de Camp.  This was purportedly written in a language called "Duriac" (a
> relative of Arabic), though in fact the script was created by a calligrapher
> who repeated it every sixteen pages, with a few extras at the beginning and
> the end.  The publishers slapped on a piece stating that several scholars from
> Iraq had been killed when attempting to translate it, and sold it.
>
>         The odd thing is, I met someone who worked for Owlswick Press
> a few months ago.  He stated that the script probably did have some sort
> meaning.  Not being any sort of cryptographer, or even knowing where to
> begin, I never looked into this.
>
>         The book can sometimes be found in some of the larger libraries
> across the United States, if anyone's interested in taking a look for
> themselves.
>
> Yrs.,
>
> Daniel Harms     dmharms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> The Internet:  Learn what you know.  Share what you don't.

> Steve sez: Add Knowledge+confision and mix :)

Anyway, this I would love to see. I have several copies of the Necronomicon, and
most are not that well done. Some follow the European Standards, which have
"spells" for making one as small as possible, large as possible etc. Others
followed the PostLovecraftian tradition, in that I think Lovecraft would have
frowned on anything remotely sexual. This sort of imagery was very popular and the
late 1970s and 1980s, perhaps fed on by the the magazines Metal
Hurlant(French)/Heavy Metal(US/UK?). I know several of the publishers had
connections to these magazines. I saw snippets of "Arabic" and in my very very
weak arabic believed I could make out "immense" or something like that. But that
was it.

Has anyone seen any proported "intermediate translations" of the Necronomicon into
Latin etc. Or extant "editions:)" of the other books by Lovecraft and his friends.
After seeing an interesting though distrubing  edition/hoax which I did not
purchase(though widh I had) I would have attempted the "sex with demons" search
though, at this point I fear I would find tons of porn pages, or anti-porn, and
the authors now older probably would want to sort of put that sort of work in the
background.

By the way, this is kind of far afield from the VMS. Does anyone do serious
research (via the net) into the Necronimicon. I know there are lots of web pages,
but haven't seen much serious. I guess I could start with with S.T. Joshi and any
searches that descend from that.

Have Fun,
Sends Steve