Many fictional works of arcane literature appear in H. P. Lovecraft's cycle of interconnected works often known as the Cthulhu Mythos. Along with the use of arcane literature, texts which innately possess supernatural powers or effects, there is also a strong tradition of fictional works or fictionalizing real works in the Mythos.
The main literary purpose of these works is to explain how characters within the tales come by occult or esoterica (knowledge that is unknown to the general populace). However, in some cases the works themselves serve as an important plot device. Another purpose of these fictional works was to give members of the Lovecraft Circle a means to pay homage to one another.
Consequently, Clark Ashton Smith used Lovecraft's Necronomicon (his most prominent creation) in Smith's tale "Ubbo-Sathla". Likewise, Lovecraft used Robert E. Howard's Nameless Cults in his tale "Out of the Aeons". Thereafter, these fictional works and others appear in the stories of numerous other Mythos authors (some of whom have added their own grimoires to the literary arcana), including August Derleth, Lin Carter, Brian Lumley, Jonathan L. Howard Phillips Lovecraft remains one of the more controversial yet influential genre writers of the early 20th century. A man like his friend and contemporary, Robert E. Howard, who has stood the test of time. Perhaps his most admirable quality as a writer was the fact that he was never afraid to let anyone play with his toys.
Here are some of the most notable examples of fictional books within the Cthulhu Mythos:
Key Fictional Works
Here are some of the most notable examples of fictional books within the Cthulhu Mythos:
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The Book of Azathoth
The Book of Azathoth is a creation of Lovecraft's. It is mentioned in "The Dreams in the Witch House" as a book harbored by Nyarlathotep in the form of the Black Man (or Satan). The protagonist, Walter Gilman, is forced to sign the book in his blood, pledging his soul to the Other Gods. He must meet the Black Man, and go with them all to the throne of Azathoth at the centre of ultimate Chaos. That was what she said.
Other authors have expanded on the Book of Azathoth. Michael Alan Nelson writes (in his Fall of Cthulhu series for Boom! Studios) that the signer attracts the attention of the Other Gods by writing their name in the book.
The Book of Eibon
The Book of Eibon, that strangest and rarest of occult forgotten volumes ... Within these narratives, this book is supposed to have been written by Eibon, a wizard in the land of Hyperborea. It was an immense text of arcane knowledge that contained, among other things, a detailed account of Eibon's exploits, including his journeys to the Vale of Pnath and the planet Shaggai, his veneration rituals of Zhothaqquah (Eibon's patron deity), and his magical formulae-such as for the slaying of certain otherworldly horrors.
The Book of Iod
The Book of Iod was created by Henry Kuttner and first appeared in his short story "Bells of Horror" (as Keith Hammond; 1939). The original Book of Iod is written in the "Ancient Tongue", possibly a combination of Greek and Coptic. While its origin is unknown within the narrative, the Book of Iod may have been written by the mysterious author "Khut-Nah", which sounds remarkably like Kuttner.
The Book of Iod contains details about Iod, the Shining Hunter, Vorvados, and Zuchequon. The Book of Iod was also the title of a short-story collection published by Chaosium in 1995, containing 10 Cthulhu Mythos stories by Henry Kuttner, along with three related stories by Kuttner, Robert Bloch, Lin Carter, and Robert M.
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The Celaeno Fragments
The Celaeno Fragments is credited to August Derleth. In his novel The Trail of Cthulhu, "Celaeno" refers to a distant planet that contains a huge library of alien literature. The character Professor Laban Shrewsbury and his companions traveled to Celaeno several times to escape Cthulhu's minions.
Later in the lore's timeline, Shrewsbury wrote the Celaeno Fragments, a transcript of what he remembered of his translations of the books in the Great Library of Celaeno.
The Cthäat Aquadingen
The Cthäat Aquadingen, possibly meaning Things of the Water (As Aquadingen can be translated from Dutch into Water/Aqua things), was created by Brian Lumley for his short story "The Cyprus Shell" (1968). This fictional work, by an unnamed author, deals with Cthulhu and other sea-horrors, such as Inpesca. It also contains many so-called Sathlattae, rituals and spells related to Ubbo-Sathla. It is first mentioned as appearing in northern Germany around 400 AD.
Cultes des Goules
Cultes des Goules, or Cults of Ghouls, was created by Robert Bloch (August Derleth claimed to have invented the fictional work, but this was denied by both Lovecraft and Bloch himself). The work is often misattributed to August Derleth because the fictional author is the "Comte d'Erlette". It is a book on black magic and the uses of the dead written by the character Francois-Honore Balfour (Comte d'Erlette) in 1702 of the lore's timeline. It was first published in France and later denounced by the church.
Only a handful of copies are exist in present day settings. One of the established copies was kept for 91 years in an arcane library of the Church of Starry Wisdom in Providence, Rhode Island. Cultes des Goules is mentioned numerous times in the works of Caitlin R. Kiernan and plays an especially important role in her 2003 novel Low Red Moon.
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De Vermis Mysteriis
De Vermis Mysteriis, or Mysteries of the Worm, was created by Robert Bloch, first appearing in Bloch's short story 'The Secret in the Tomb" (Weird Tales, May 1935) and featured extensively in Bloch's "The Shambler from the Stars" (1935).
The Dhol Chants
The Dhol Chants was first mentioned in the short story "The Horror In The Museum" (1932) by Lovecraft and Hazel Heald. They are alluded to in passing as a semi-mythical collection of chants attributed to the almost-human people of Leng. The chants themselves are never described, nor do they appear in any other of Lovecraft's works. Richard F.
The G'harne Fragments
The G'harne Fragments first appeared in the works of Brian Lumley. They are described as a set of miraculously preserved shards of obsidian or some other black stone that record the history of the pre-human African city of G'harne. The characters responsible for translating of the fragments are Sir Amery Wendy-Smith and Gordon Walmsley.
The King in Yellow
A creation of Robert W. According to the stories, the play was widely censored. The author is unknown, and is believed to have committed suicide after publishing it in 1889. The play is named after a mysterious supernatural figure featured in it, who is connected to a peculiar alien symbol, usually wrought in gold, called the Yellow Sign.
Though the first act is said to be "innocent", all who read the play's second act either go mad or suffer another terrible fate. Lovecraft was a fan of the book and included references to the Lake of Hali and the Yellow Sign in his short story "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1930). Karl Edward Wagner and Joseph S. Pulver returned Chambers creations to their original cosmic horror roots. Both are great advocates of Chambers' work and have written many stories that utilize Chambers creations.
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The Necronomicon
The Necronomicon is arguably the most famous (or infamous) of Lovecraft's fictional works.
On the Sending Out of the Soul
On the Sending Out of the Soul appears in Henry Kuttner's short story "Hydra" (1939). It is described as an eight-page pamphlet on astral projection. The pamphlet appeared in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1783 of the lore's timeline and circulated among occult groups. The first seven pages of the pamphlet contain vague mystic writing; however, the eighth page details a formula for effecting astral travel. Among the required ingredients are a brazier and the drug Cannabis indica.
The Parchments of Pnom
The Parchments of Pnom is a manuscript written by Hyperborea's leading genealogist and soothsayer.
The Pnakotic Manuscripts
The Pnakotic Manuscripts were created by H. P. Lovecraft and first appeared in his short story "Polaris". They are noteworthy for being the first of Lovecraft's fictional arcane books. They were named after the place where it was kept, the city of Pnakotus, a primordial metropolis built by the Great Race of Yith.
The Great Race is credited with authoring the Manuscripts, though other scribes would add to it over the ages. F. The story was actually published in that issue without the headnote.
The Ponape Scripture
The Ponape Scripture first appeared in Lin Carter's short story "Out of the Ages" (1975). The Scripture is a manuscript found in the Caroline Islands by Captain Abner Exekiel Hoag sometime around 1734. The book showed signs of great age-its pages were made of palm leaves and its binding was of an ancient, now-extinct cycadean wood.
It was written in Naacal (the language of Mu) and appears to have been authored by Imash-Mo, high priest of Ghatanothoa, and his successors. The book contains details of Mu and of Zanthu, high priest of Ythogtha. With the help of his servant Yogash (hinted to be a Deep One hybrid), Hoag managed to write a translation of the manuscript.
But when he tried to have it published, his efforts were thwarted by religious leaders who strongly objected to the book's references to Dagon. Nonetheless, copies of the Scripture have circulated among secretive cults (such as the Esoteric Order of Dagon) and other occult groups.
In contemporary times, other versions of the Ponape Scripture have seen print. Harold Hadley Copeland, a leading authority on the Scripture, produced a translation of the book, published in 1907 by Miskatonic University Press. Copeland also cited the book in his work The Prehistoric Pacific in Light of the 'Ponape Scripture (1911).
Las Reglas de Ruina
Las Reglas de Ruina (literally "the Rules of Ruin") first appeared in Joseph S. Pulver's novel Nightmare's Disciple. It is a tome written by Philip of Navarre in 1520, a Spanish friar of the 16th century. The book has been translated in English by Professors Theodore Hayward Gates and Pascal Chevillion in 1714 and describes the Great Old One Kassogtha, sister and incestuous bride of Cthulhu.
The book also foretells of the coming of a messiah of destruction, who would be born in the western land of the red savage across the great ocean in Columbus' New World, a man that shall set the Great Old One free from her stellar prison.
The Revelations of Gla'aki
The Revelations of Gla'aki first appeared in Ramsey Campbell's short story "The Inhabitant of the Lake" (1964). It was written by a fictional undead cult worshipping the Great Old One Gla'aki. Within the lore of the Cthulu Mythos, whenever Gla'aki slept, the members of his cult had periods of free will, and, since they were part of Gla'aki and shared his memories, they wrote down what they remembered of their master's thoughts.
The cult's handwritten manuscripts later came to be known as the Revelations of Gla'aki.
The Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan
The Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan is a collection of writings mentioned by Lovecraft in "The Other Gods" (1921) and "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" (1926). In both stories, the books are mentioned in conjunction with the Pnakotic Manuscripts. They are kept in the temple of the Elder Ones in the city of Ulthar; these are the only copies existing in the current day of Lovecraft's stories.
The character Barzai the Wise studied the books before his journey to see the gods dancing on Mount Hatheg-Kla, while another character, Randolph Carter, consulted them during his quest to reach Kadath.
The Testaments of Carnamagos
Now, as he sat there in a state half terror, half stupor, his eyes were drawn to the wizard volume before him: the writings of that evil sage and seer, Carnamagos, which had been recovered a thousand years ago from some Graeco-Bactrian tomb, and transcribed by an apostate monk in the original Greek, in the blood of an incubus-begotten monster. The Testaments of Carnamagos was created by Clark Ashton Smith and first appeared in his short story "Xeethra" (1934).
The text is featured more prominently in Smith's "The Treader of the Dust" (1935). The book gives a description of the Great Old One Quachil Uttaus, among others. Only two copies are known of, though one was destroyed during the Spanish Inquisition.
Unaussprechlichen Kulten
Unaussprechlichen Kulten was created by Robert E. Howard, and was ascribed to the fictional Friedrich von Junzt. The name is grammatically incorrect.
The Zanthu Tablets
The Zanthu Tablets first appeared in "The Dweller in the Tomb" (1971), by Lin Carter. The tablets themselves are described as 12 engraved pieces of black jade inscribed by the fictional author Zanthu, a wizard and high priest of Ythogtha. They are written in a hieratic form of Naacal, the language of the fictional sunken continent of Mu.
The tablets reveal a partial history of Mu, describing Zanthu's struggle against the rising cult of Ghatanothoa and his own religion's lamented decline. He also describes his failed attempt to release the god Ythogtha from its prison. Upon witnessing three black, beaked, slimy heads, "vaster than any mountain", rising from a gorge, he flees in terror when he realizes that they are merely the god's fingertips.
The character Harold Hadley Copeland published a brochure entitled The Zanthu Tablets: A Conjectural Translation in 1916 of the lore timeline. He made the rough translation using a key borrowed from the estate of another character, Colonel Churchward, the last qualified translator of ancient Naacal, and heavily edited it out of a concern for "public sanity". The controversial brochure was later denounced by the academic community and was suppressed by the authorities.
Published versions Copeland's later manuscripts have not appeared in any Cthulhu Mythos stories. According to current lore, ten years after the publication of the brochure, Copeland died in an asylum.
The following backstory is provided for how Copeland found the tablets. In 1913 of the lore timeline, guided by the Ponape Script, the character Copeland led an expedition into Indochina to locate the plateau of Tsang and to find the tomb of Zanthu. After the other members of the expedition died or deserted him, Copeland pressed on, eventually reaching his goal. Opening the tomb, he was horrified to discover that the mummified face of Zanthu resembled his own.
A fictional ancient manuscript found in Asia, written during Zhou dynasty, circa in 1100 BC of the lore timeline.
Table of Fictional Books in the Cthulhu Mythos
Here is a summary table of some of the fictional books appearing in the Cthulhu Mythos:
| Title | Author | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The Book of Azathoth | H. P. Lovecraft | Harbored by Nyarlathotep, contains pledges to the Other Gods. |
| The Book of Eibon | Eibon | Details Eibon's exploits and magical formulae. |
| The Book of Iod | Henry Kuttner | Details about Iod, the Shining Hunter, Vorvados, and Zuchequon. |
| The Celaeno Fragments | August Derleth | Transcript of translations from the Great Library of Celaeno. |
| The Cthäat Aquadingen | Brian Lumley | Deals with Cthulhu and other sea-horrors. |
| Cultes des Goules | Robert Bloch | Book on black magic and uses of the dead. |
| De Vermis Mysteriis | Robert Bloch | Mysteries of the Worm. |
| The Dhol Chants | H. P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald | Collection of chants attributed to the people of Leng. |
| The G'harne Fragments | Brian Lumley | Records the history of the pre-human city of G'harne. |
| The King in Yellow | Robert W. Chambers | A play that leads to madness or terrible fate. |
| The Necronomicon | H. P. Lovecraft | The most famous of Lovecraft's fictional works. |
| On the Sending Out of the Soul | Henry Kuttner | Pamphlet on astral projection. |
| The Parchments of Pnom | Unknown | Manuscript by Hyperborea's leading genealogist and soothsayer. |
| The Pnakotic Manuscripts | H. P. Lovecraft | Authored by the Great Race of Yith. |
| The Ponape Scripture | Lin Carter | Details of Mu and of Zanthu, high priest of Ythogtha. |
| Las Reglas de Ruina | Joseph S. Pulver | Describes the Great Old One Kassogtha. |
| The Revelations of Gla'aki | Ramsey Campbell | Written by the cult worshipping Gla'aki. |
| The Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan | H. P. Lovecraft | Kept in the temple of the Elder Ones in Ulthar. |
| The Testaments of Carnamagos | Clark Ashton Smith | Gives a description of the Great Old One Quachil Uttaus. |
| Unaussprechlichen Kulten | Robert E. Howard | Ascribed to Friedrich von Junzt. |
| The Zanthu Tablets | Lin Carter | Reveal a partial history of Mu and Zanthu's struggle. |