I’ve been looking at this for a while and finally got one. It is a really lovely book, and so realistic that one could easily be fooled into thinking that it is indeed a genuine University monograph. Everything about it has been done so painstakingly, I’m just gob-smacked. Text, drawings, colour plates - all executed to look like a 100% professional publication. My book even came with a handwritten ( no doubt using an MU fountain pen) dedication from Prof. Armitage to my character ( this was a special request from me).
This monograph will join my collection as another great HPLHS work. I’d highly recommend it!

Zia Anna kanpa Kia Anna kanpa! IA nalharotep. Awaken azathoth. Reclaim your slumber. Azonae of the outer reaches. Awaken. Seer of all, creator of all, awaken. Knower of all, eater of all, awaken. May your day be of all days. Beyond time. May none look upon you. Awaken. The Chao awaits you. Your brother is full. Awaken. You know of your time. You are time, you are all, awaken and free the dream. Liberate the protector of the Chao. AWAKEN!!!

Beyond what Lovecraft wrote regarding his fabled “Necronomicon” text, and ignoring those works which have merely hijacked the title, Chaosium have added snippets regarding the book over the years, sometimes with brief scholarly notes, in the various editions of their “Call of Cthulhu” role-playing game. Plus of course, the HPLHS has added to such items previously, with pages from the infamous Dee translation, for example. This booklet, another prop reprint from the Miskatonic University Press Monograph series of the early 20th century, takes things to a new plane entirely, however. The text is beautifully constructed, as a period-monograph would have been written, complete with maps, plans, photographs - including a fine colour rendition of the recovered fragment in a foldout centrespread - references and much scholarly discussion. The HPLHS Redbubble store has various poster-sized reproductions of said fragment’s images too, for those wanting more. While the booklet is a pleasure for Lovecraft fans on its own, “Call of Cthulhu” Keepers could use it to add further verisimilitude to their games, as well as drawing details from it to spring surprises on those familiar with the text as described in the game already. A real delight!

I did not anticipate the craving for knowledge that this monograph would instill in me. SPOILERS: The revelation of the discovery of a near-contemporaneous parchment of the original Arabic writing of the "mad arab" intrigued me, and filled me with fantastic curiosities. I soon sought out the etymology of "al-azif," and sought out exemplars of this very specific sound. I read about "madness" in the pre-Islamic poets (that is, the inspiration of their poems by the Jinn in the desert), and of the biography of the (perhaps still living) Abdul Alhazred. I still await, in the mail, the commentaries on the history of the Necronomicon, the meaning of the name of which is, perhaps, slightly different from what we've thought all along.

I enjoyed the subject matter, the photos, the footnotes (some true, some "mad" versions of the truth), and felt like I was observing a scholarly discussion with these esteemed professors of Cambridge and Misktatonic. For the erudite or the merely curious, this is money well spent.

This is the 3rd one I bought. More than lives up to the standard: creepy in the Lovecraft tradition; authentic-appearing in every way; and a kind of clever satire on the academic way of life. Fun to leave on the cocktail table to watch reactions from guests. Keep them coming!