Al-Azif: The Necronomicon

by Abdul Alhazred

Published by Wildside

The Wildside Necronomicon is a paperback reprint of the infamous Owlswick Necronomicon, published in 1973 in a limited edition of 348.  This was the first commercially available Necronomicon.  The bulk of the text is written in “Duriac,” an artificial script created by an artist for this project.  An interesting feature of this book is that it reads from right to left, like Arabic or Hebrew.

The book begins with a 7 page preface by L. Sprague de Camp, author of Lovecraft: A Life, telling the story of the manuscript al-Azif which eventually became this Necronomicon.  According to this, de Camp was sold the book by a corrupt member of the Irai Directorate General of Antiquities.  He was later informed by his friend, who was a tour guide in Beirut, that the book was the Necronomicon. The tour guide also filled de Camp in on the Iraqi government's plan to release the book through him.  Apparently the Iraqi government at the time released sensitive plans about world-devastating books to talkative tour guides from other nations.  (I will refrain from commenting about WMDs.)

After three Iraqi scholars disappeared while attempting to translate the book, an anti-American Iraqi government official named Mahmud ash-Shammari arranged to have the book fall into American hands.  The idea was that “the manuscript should be left in America, to wreak its woe upon American scholars.”  Despite knowing this, de Camp, “an uncompromising rationalist and materialist, with no belief whatsoever in gods, ghosts, demons, or other spooks,” decided to bring the book back to America.

The essay draws to a close with the speculation that the missing translators had, “in making their translations...  unconsciously subvocalized the passages as they wrote them,” thus invoking the Old Ones.  The final paragraph is a warning not to mumble as you translate.

The “Duriac” text consists mostly of two series of eight pages each, repeated throughout most of the text, flanked on both sides by a few pages of unique text.  The second sequence is identical to the first, except for the first and last lines of each page.  This creates the illusion of a much longer text upon cursory examination.

It is worth noting that an Egyptian woman (who does not wish to be named), when shown the text, appeared to recognize some of the characters, and expressed her belief that it was a coded manuscript, with a real document hidden beneath.  My statement that is an artificial script, perhaps created by an artist who had viewed Arabic manuscripts for inspiration, had no effect on her belief.

The beginning gives the impression of a title page, introduction, and a few headings.  The repeated text follows, making up most of the book.  Everything up to this point is gracefully written in an elegant (if imaginary) hand.   Several pages from the end, this elegant script breaks off, and there is a large heading, followed by several pages of sloppy text. This creates a sense of urgency, as if Alhazred suddenly started rushing to complete the book.  The last page bears what appears to be a hasily written conclusion and signature.

This paperback lacks the impressive shelf appeal of the extremely rare hardcover Owlswick Necronomicon, a red and gray cloth-bound tome measuring 10.5” by 7.25”.  These do show up on eBay from time to time, going for hundreds of dollars.  There are supposedly a few unauthorized hardcovers floating around as well, in various bindings, but I've never seen one.  For those wishing to possess the text of the Owlswick book for whatever reason, the Wildside Al-Azif is an affordable, readily available alternative.