If I understand correctly Lovecraft didn’t write anything call the Necronomicon, but fans of his wrote one based on his writings. Another 80 years and they’d all be speaking Klingon.
-Trion (who has no right calling anyone else a geek)
Re Dragon60–I reiterate: read Dunsany. Lovecraft once wrote that he could not have created the Mythos without it.
The rarest version of The Necronomicon is the Classics Comics edition. #666 in the series, if I recall rightly. 
Are there any other types of Necronomicons commercially available, other than those written by Simon? It seems that all of the ones I have seen on the Net and in stores are the edition by him. Anyone have suggestions on making my own copy of the Necronomicon?
Fantastic! Now I can finish my MBA program on-line (Master of the Black Arts).
Hmmm…this site seems to claim that the Necronomicon is a real book:
Necronomicon Anti-FAQ
It even drags Aleister Crowley, the Kabbalah, and Norse Mythology into the mix.
It seems factual, but that’s probably because many of the facts cannot be verified.
-David
Damn quotation marks.
If you’re interested in Lovecraft’s writings, I strongly suggest The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft and More Annotated H.P. Lovecraft, with annotations by S.T. Joshi.
The first mention of Miskatonic University is in the story “Herbert West–Reanimator”, although Miskatonic Valley was sited in an earlier tale. Joshi notes the name Miskatonic “is probably an adaptation of several Indian place-names in New England, most notably Housatonic, a river in western Massachusetts and Connecticut. Of the name, Lovecraft remarks that it ‘is simply a jumble of Algonquin roots’[Selected Letters III,432]”
The first mention of the Necronomicon is in the story “The Hound”, elaborated on in later tales, notable “The Dunwich Horror.” Abdul Alhazred, the supposed mad Arab who wrote the Necronomicon, is first mentioned in “The Nameless City” (1921). Lovecraft claimed he invented the name Abdul Alhazred after reading Lang’s Arabian Nights as a child.
The only actual book ever mentioned in a Lovecraft story was Margaret Mead’s “The Witch Cult In Western Europe”. Mind you, that book has about as much factual information to impart as Red Dragon’s copy of the Necronomicon.
H.P. Lovecraft spent a good deal of his writing career living in Providence, Rhode Island, down the street (literally) from Brown University. Although he places Miskatonic U. in the fictional town Arkham, Mass., I’d like to think that he was really referring to Brown.
Of course, in real life the only scary things here at Brown are 1) the sky-high tuition, surely planned by He-Who-Cannot-Be-Named, and 2) the friggin’ liberals and pinko youth communists. 
Akash J. (Brown Class of '00)
Ashamed Future Alumnus
Well, we DO have something scary: an anatomy book actually bound in human skin! Not the Necronomicon but it will have to do. Check out the info here:
Article from Brown Daily Herald
Akash J.
Wow…here I am procrastinating and what do I find, but another Brown person. HP’s grave is down the street I think. Maybe we should grab a copy of the ol’ black book and try some of the stuff down there…
A few posters towards the top of this page indicate that Lovecraft wrote the Necronomicon. He most certainly did not.
He did something much more insidious and powerful: he created a word and left everything else up to our imagination. Others seized the opportunity and cheapened his vision, making concrete that which we know could not be written.
Lord Dunsany was most certainly the inspiration behind most of Lovecraft - the rich atmosphere, intoxicating vocabulary and disturbing imagery are present in the Brit’s writings. He was a VERY interesting man:
Let’s hope the Drummer of the Gods never rests!
Um…like who?
Reviewing the thread, noone has said Lovecraft wrote the damned thing (heheh) just that he created it.
Every mention of who wrote it mentions either Abdul Alhazred (it’s purported author within the Mythos), or that different editions were written by different people - some fans meaning to add something to the Mythos, some charlatains.
Not to hijack the thread or anything, but while I have you all here…
How exactly did ol’ Howard die? I know he passed in '37, before the Big One, but I can’t find out how. Thanks.
H. P. Lovecraft died from cancer of the intestines on March 10, 1937.
El Smasho:
H. P. went on his final Dream-quest from a combination of Bright’s disease and intestinal cancer.
Or so they want you to think…
Actually, he was swallowed up by great Cthulu. Or he said “hastur” three times. Take your pick. 
SoulFrost, I might have been whooshed, but the “Anti-FAQ” you mentioned is a great big joke. The author admits as much, thus it’s an “Anti-FAQ.”
This thread has coaxed me into tempting fate. Here I go:
Hastur
Hastur
HastuaAAAUUGGHH!!!