Re: History of the Book of Eibon
Posted by:
Ancient History (IP Logged)
Date: 15 November, 2014 10:06AM
Well, there's the stuff the CAS wrote about it, and then the mentions by H. P. Lovecraft in "Dreams in the Witch House" and "The Horror in the Museum" among others. Unlike Lovecraft and the "History of the Necronomicon," or Robert E. Howard's bibliographic history of "The Black Book," I don't believe Smith ever set down a specific history for the book - which was later developed more fully by authors like Lin Carter.
Still, I think the general consensus among fans based primarily on Smith's stories is that after Eibon's mysterious disappearance ("The Door to Saturn"), his writings were collected by followers and maintained by cults, translated down the ages ("Ubbo-Sathla"), and finally was translated into Latin as the Livre Ivonis ("The Haunter in the Dark") and French (implied by "The Beast of Averoigne" and whatnot).