THERE ARE THREE major individuals who must share the credit for the astonishingly good reception the NECRONOMICON has enjoyed over the last two years since it's publication. L.K. Barnes was lured into the Magickal Childe bookstore in Manhattan one day by an incarnated thoughtform we may refer to as only B.A.K. Both were in search of some casual amusement from the slightly distorted version of the supernatural intelligence-dissemination that usually took place on those premises. L.K. Barnes, publisher of this tome, has probably come to regret ever setting foot or tentacle inside those clammy precincts, for the crazed proprietor of that institution commenced to wave before him the manuscript copy of this book, thereby securing his soul forever in the service of the Elder Gods.

Needless to say L.K.-- a longtime pilgrim in the search for the genuine NECRONOMICON which he knew, since childhood, really existted--was suitably impressed. Shocked, actually. He asked to see the dubious personality who claimed responsibility for the editing and general research work that went into the volume.

This exotic individual, Simon by name, appeared suddenly one day at the living quarters of L.K. Barnes attired in a beret, a suit of some dark, fiberous material, and an attache case which contained, besides correspondance from various Balkan embassies and a photograph of the F-104 fighter being crated up for shipment to Luxembourg--additional material on the NECRONOMICON which proved his bona fides. Also, at that meeting was the third member of the Unholy Trinity, James Wasserman of Studio 31 who--according to a South American cult leader--died during the last year, but who has been able with assistance from the Stone of the Wise and certain formulae of this book, to go on about his business like unto a living man.

With Simon's manuscript, Barnes' occult vision and aesthetic scruples, and Wasserman's production experience and tireless labor, the abhorred NECRONOMICON began to take shape and the first edition smote the stands on December 22, 1977--The ancient Pagan feast of Yule, the winter solstice.

Yet, not without a number of bizarre occurances that more than once threatened the lives, the sanity, and the astral bodies of the three individuals most deeply involved.

Jim Wasserman was subjected to what me may vaugely refer to as "poltergeist" activity during the time he worked on production and design aspects of this book. A room which, for certain loathsome purposes, was always kept locked was found one day to have been opened--from the inside. In the same building, just below his loft, the typesetters were set upon by swarms of rats. The discovery of a small Hindu idol that had been lost signalled the end of the plague, and the rats dissapeared.

Simon usually lived in fear of his life, for reasons that do not always have to do with the NECRONOMICON. However, he has been subject to constant surveillance by the Ancient Ones as they await the one slip, the single misstep, that will provide for them the entry they earnestly desire into this world.

L.K. Barnes, on the other hand, has had no rest whatever from the signals and the messages from the extraterrestial intelligences that were the overseers and the guardians of the book's publication. He has been plagued by an unremitting chain of numerological events which he cannot ignore. The predominance of the numbers 13, 333, 555, 666 and others to arcane to bear mentioning have made his life a demonstration (read demon-stration) if Jungian synchronicity patterns. Also, his printing of the beautiful, full-color Denderah Zodiac on the first anniversary of the NECRONOMICON's publication in 1978 precipitated a rash of UFO sightings in Australia and New Zealand--in which one pilot has dissapeared.

Bizarre occurances and humorous coincidences aside for the moment, the NECRONOMICON has caused changes in the conciousness of those people most intimately involved as well as many strangers who simply bought the book through the mail or at their bookstore. Judging by the letters we have recieved in the last two years, these changes have been startling. Many have found the books' magick to work, and work extremely well. Others, having once attempted certain of the rituals, felt compelled to retire from the occult "scene" for lengthy periods of time. The mere fact that the book was generally considered never to have existed--and then found to exist after all--is itself a powerful psychic influence. A fantasy come true. A dream realized in waking life. The quest for a lifetime search come to an end. The ultimate Book of Spells. The Godfather of Grimoires.

Therefore it is with awe, and something akin to dread, that I address this second edition to the couragious the NECRONOMICON. The Beast has told us, "I am the warrior Lord of the Forties: the Eighties cower before me, & are abased." (AL, III:46) This edition of the NECRONOMICON is schedules for early delivery in January-February 1980, making it possibly the first occult book of the Eighties. A herald of doom? Or a harbringer of fate?

Since the publicaton of this book in December, 1977, the ancient forces of erstwhile victory have been banging and clamoring at the Gates. December 1977 was the middle of the killing spree of the .44 calibre killer, known to the press as the Son of Sam, who was motivated--according to recent reports--by membership in a satanic cult on Yonkers. Several months after the capture of David Berkowitz in 1978, nearly one thousand people killes themselves at Guyana at the orders of a crazed religious leader. Several months after that, the leader of a mystical Islamic sect seized power in Iran and-at the time of this writing-is calling for a Holy War against the Infidel.

There is evidence that every New Age witnesses a baptism by fire. Christians and Muslims are turning on each other and themselves; Israel is once again in serious jeopardy; Buddhism is being eradicated in Southeast Asia as it was in Tibet.

The Ancient Ones, Lords of a time before memory, are being drawn by the smell of confusion and hysteria and mutual hatred of the primitive life-forms on this planet: human beings. Unless the Gates are secured against attack, unless humanity awakens to both the real danger and both the real potentioal for evolution...

Well, the vision of the Mad Arab--ancestor of the Muslim princess so much in the news in 1979/80--is one, certainly of terror. The discovery of this book, however, like the discovery of the typesetters' idol, may be the key, the link in our defence against the possible Enemy awaiting us, Outside. Events of the last two years have shown us that the book is also an amulet, a protective sheild, that guards it's own from the mechanations of evil. Extraterrestrial or primevally elemental, alien beings or subconscious repressions, they are powerless against us if we consider deeply message of this book, and take the seemingly ranting of the Arab at face value for what they are: a warning, a weapon, and a wisdom. With these three we enter the New Age of the Crowned and Conquering Child, Horus, not in a slouch towards Bethlehem, but born with us at the moment we conquer the lurking fear in our own souls.

New York, N.Y.
December, 1979


"Our work is therefore historically authentic; the rediscovery of the Sumerian Tradition." 
                                                                                        - Aleister Crowly