To: alt.horror.cthulhu,alt.necronomicon,alt.magick
From: <unintelligible>
Subject: Re: Occult Works Mentioned by Lovecraft
Date: 10 Dec 1998 03:25:36 PST

< > > D.E. Kesler posted:
< > > (The following post has been cross posted to alt.horror.cthulhu,
< > > alt.necronomicon, and alt.magick.)
< > > 
< > > Hello All,
< > > 
< > > The following quote is from H.P. Lovecraft's novel _The Case of Charles
< > > Dexter Ward_.  I was curious about the various books mentioned by
< > > Lovecraft in this passage.  Of course, I realize the fictional nature of
< > > the Necronomicon, but what about the other books mentioned?  I recognize
< > > a couple of them as genuine books.  Aside from the Necronomicon, are all
< > > of the works mentioned authentic?
< > > 
< > > 	"Mr. Merritt always confessed to seeing nothing really horrible at the
< > > farmhouse, but maintained that the titles of the books in the special
< > > library of thaumaturgical, alchemical, and theological subjects which
< > > Curwen kept in a front room were alone sufficient to inspire him with a
< > > lasting loathing.  Perhaps, however, the facial expressions of the owner
< > > in exhibiting them contributed much of the prejudice.  This bizarre
< > > collection, besides a host of standard works which Mr. Merritt was not
< > > too alarmed to envy, embraced nearly all the cabbalists, daemonologists,
< > > and magicians known to man; and was a treasure-house of lore in the
< > > doubtful realms of alchemy and astrology.  Hermes Trismegistus in
< > > Mesnard's edition, the Turba Philosophorum, Geber's Liber
< > > Investigationis , and Artephius', Key of Wisdom all were there; with the
< > > cabbalistic Zohar, Peter Jammy's set of Albertus Magnus, Raymond Lully's
< > > Ars Magna et Ultima in Zetsner's edition, Roger Bacon's Thesaurus
< > > Chemicus, Fludd's Clavis Alchimiae, and Trithemius' De Lapide
< > > Philosophico crowding them close.  Mediaeval Jews and Arabs were
< > > represented in profusion, and Mr. Merritt turned pale when, upon taking
< > > down a fine volume conspicuously labelled as the Qanoon-e-Islam, he
< > > found it was in truth the forbidden Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul
< > > Alhazred, of which he had heard such monstrous things whispered some
< > > years previously after the exposure of nameless rites at the strange
< > > little fishing village of Kingsport, in the Province of the
< > > Massachusetts-Bay." (MM, 121) 
< > > 
< > > Regards and Best Wishes,
< > > 
< > > Donald Eric Kesler
< > > 


here is a list of the real books hpl has mentioned. i gathered this information myself and deserve all the 
credit:


1. Image Du Mode, Gautier de Metz (The Nameless City) 

2. Daemonolatreia, Remigius, Lyons 1595 (The Festival)

3. Saducismus Triumphatus, or Full and Plain Evidence concerning Witches 
and Apparations. London 1681, ????, and 1700. Joseph Glanvil (The 
Festival)

4. Kryptographik, Kluber (DH)

5. Book Of Invaders (The Moon Bog)

6. Wonders of the Invisable World, Cotton Mather (The Picture in the House, 
Pickman's Model)

7. Magnalia Christi Americana, Cotton Mather (The Unnamable)

8. The Witch-Cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology, Margret A. 
Murray, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921. 303pp. (The Horror at Red Hook, 
The Call of Cthulhu)

9. Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, Ignatius Donnelly, New York: Harper's 
1882. Rev. ed. Egerton Sykes,ed. New York Gramercy Press, 1949. 355pp. 
(The Decendent, Call of Cthulhu)

10. The Golden Bough, Frazer (The Call of Cthulhu)

11. Poligraphia- John Trithemius (The Call of Cthulhu) 

12. De Furtivis Literarum Notis, Giambattista Porta (The Call of Cthulhu)

13. Traite des Chiffres, De Vigenere (The Call of Cthulhu)

14. Cryptomenysis Patefacta, Falconer (The Call of Cthulhu) 

15. Churchward, James. The Lost Continent of Mu, New York: Ives Washburn, 
1926. 335p.(Out of the Aeons) 

16. Spence, Lewis. The History of Atlantis. London: Rider, 1926 (Out of the 
Aeons) 

17. Scott-Eliot, W. The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria. London: 
Theosophical Publishing House, 1925. 155pp (Call of Cthulhu)

18. De Lapide Philosophico, Trithemius (CDW)

19. Key of Wisdom, Artephius (CDW)

20. Liber Investigationis, Geber (CDW)

21. Thesaurus Chemicus, Bacon (CDW)

22. Turba Philosophorum, attributed to Guglielmo Grataroli (CDW)

23. Zohar, Moses de Leon (CDW)