Non-Occult Books

A list of non-occult books mentioned by Lovecraftian authors.

Non-Occult Books

A Report from the Kingdom of Congo

The Picture in the House

Africa

Relatione del reame del Congo, or A Report of the Kingdom of Congo, and the Surrounding Countries, Drawn Out of the Writings and Discourses of the Portuguese, Duarte Lopez, (1591 in Spanish; 1597 in English, ? in French, and 1598 in German) by Filippo Pigafetta

Translated to English by Abraham Hartwell as A report of the kingdome of Congo, a region of Africa : And of the countries that border rounde about the same. 1. Wherein is also shewed, that the two zones torrida & frigida, are not onely habitable, but inhabited, and very temperate, contrary to the opinion of the old philosophers. 2. That the blacke colour which is in the skinnes of the Ethiopians and Negroes &c. proceedeth not from the sunne. 3. And that the Riuer Nilus springeth not out of the mountains of the Moone, as hath been heretofore beleeued: together with the true cause of the rising and increasing thereof. 4. Besides the description of diuers plants, fishes and beastes, that are found in those countries. Drawen out of the writinges and discourses of Odoardo Lopez a Portingall, by Philippo Pigafetta, 1597.

Inspiration for the pictures and book described in H.P. Lovecraft's "The Picture in the House (Fiction)":

The first object of my curiosity was a book of medium size lying upon the table and presenting such an antediluvian aspect that I marvelled at beholding it outside a museum or library. It was bound in leather with metal fittings, and was in an excellent state of preservation; being altogether an unusual sort of volume to encounter in an abode so lowly. When I opened it to the title page my wonder grew even greater, for it proved to be nothing less rare than Pigafetta’s account of the Congo region, written in Latin from the notes of the sailor Lopez and printed at Frankfort in 1598. I had often heard of this work, with its curious illustrations by the brothers De Bry, hence for a moment forgot my uneasiness in my desire to turn the pages before me. The engravings were indeed interesting, drawn wholly from imagination and careless descriptions, and represented negroes with white skins and Caucasian features; nor would I soon have closed the book had not an exceedingly trivial circumstance upset my tired nerves and revived my sensation of disquiet. What annoyed me was merely the persistent way in which the volume tended to fall open of itself at Plate XII, which represented in gruesome detail a butcher’s shop of the cannibal Anziques.

- H.P.Lovecraft, "The Picture in the House"

The book and its illustrations purport to describe the tribes of the African Congo, in exaggerated or fanciful detail, with special lurid detail payed to the supposed cannibal diet of the Anzique tribe, as depicted by the Anzique's unfriendly neighbors:

They have shambles for human flesh, as we have of animals, even eating the enemies they have killed in battle, and selling their slaves if they can get a good price for them; if not, they give them to the butcher, who cuts them in pieces, and then sells them to be roasted or boiled. It is a remarkable fact in the history of this people, that any who are tired of life, or wish to prove themselves brave and courageous, esteem it great honour to expose themselves to death by an act which shall show their contempt for life. Thus they offer themselves for slaughter, and as the faithful vassals of princes, wishing to do them service, not only give themselves to be eaten, but their slaves also, when fattened, are killed and eaten. It is true many nations eat human flesh, as in the East Indies, Brazil, and elsewhere, but to devour the flesh of their own enemies, friends, subjects, and even relations, is a thing without example, except amongst the Anzichi tribes.

- Philippo Pigafetta

The text of this rare volume is apparently short (said to be 60 pages of text), with much of this "medium sized" volume consisting of De Bry's woodcut illustrations. The woodcut illustrations were executed by the brothers De Bry, who had never been to Africa or South America and based their fanciful illustrations on vague, confused, or equally fanciful descriptions given to them second-hand. Lovecraft describes the German 1598 version as medium-sized and bound in leather with metal fittings. Some versions of this book have been described as "over a foot long". (source)

Qanoon-e-Islam

Qanoon-e-Islam or, the Customs of the Moosulmans of India (1830s)

A book describing the culture and rituals of Indian Muslims in the nineteenth century, mentioned in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward: "A fine volume of the forbidden Necronomicon conspicuously labelled as the Qanoon-e-Islam."

Poligraphia

Trithemius’ Poligraphia, Polygraphiae, or Polygraphiae libri sex - Clavis polygraphiae (1518)

The first printed book on cryptography. The codes that Tritheim invented and described in this book, notably the "Ave Maria" cipher, which takes up the bulk of the work (each word representing a letter, with consecutive tables making it possible to so arrange a code that it will read as a prayer), and the "square table", a sophisticated system of coding using multiple alphabets, were used for centuries. The remarkable title page is composed of a 7 woodcut blocks, showing the author presenting his book, and a bearded monk presenting a pair of keys, to the Emperor Maximilian. This block is within historiated woodcut borders of scholars holding emblems of science, arms of Maximilian and three other armorial shields at corners, and a reclining portrait of Trithemius himself at bottom.

One of various books on codes and cryptography mentioned in The Dunwich Horror (these are real books, Lovecraft copied the list verbatim from his Encyclopaedia Britannica).

De Furtivis Literarum Notis

Giambattista Porta’s De Furtivis Literarum Notis (1500s)

Describes the use of a deck of card to encode secret information by writing on the sides of the deck in a known order, then shuffling the cards to destroy the order and render the message illegible to anyone not familiar with the stack.

One of various books on codes and cryptography mentioned in The Dunwich Horror (these are real books, Lovecraft copied the list verbatim from his Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Traité des Chiffres

De Vigenère’s Traité des Chiffres (1586)

Describes an polyalphabetic encryption system, a type of substitution cipher, the same letter may, depending on its position, be replaced by different letters, unlike a monoalphabetic encryption system. This method thus resists frequency analysis, which is a decisive advantage over monoalphabétic ciphers. Vigenère's cipher was broken by the Prussian major Friedrich Kasiski who published his method in 1863, and it no longer provides any security.

One of various books on codes and cryptography mentioned in The Dunwich Horror (these are real books, Lovecraft copied the list verbatim from his Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Cryptomenysis Patefacta

Falconer’s Cryptomenysis Patefacta, or Cryptomenysis patefacta; or, The art of secret information disclosed without a key. Containing, plain and demonstrative rules, for decyphering all manner of secret writing. With exact methods, for resolving secret intimations by signs or gestures, or in speech. As also an inquiry into the secret ways of conveying written messages, and the several mysterious proposals for secret information, mentioned by Trithemius, etc.

One of various books on codes and cryptography mentioned in The Dunwich Horror (these are real books, Lovecraft copied the list verbatim from his Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Kryptographik

Klüber’s Kryptographik, or Kryptographik Lehrbuch der Geheimschreibekunst (1809)

A book written by Johann Ludwig Klüber, still cited as a noted reference book on the history of cryptography. Includes examples of line scripts using a rectangle, circle and a series of embedded ci rcles. For each example, the letters of the alphabet were inscribed within the shapes. In some cases, multiple letters of the alphabet are contained in the same cell. In these cases, the person decrypting the message may need to figure out from the context which letter was more likely in the original message.

One of various books on codes and cryptography mentioned in The Dunwich Horror (these are real books, Lovecraft copied the list verbatim from his Encyclopaedia Britannica).

De Humani Corporis Fabrica

Andreas Vesalius' De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (Latin for "On the fabric of the human body in seven books") (1543)

A set of heavily-illustrated books on human anatomy written by Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) and published in 1543.

(A copy of this book, bound in human skin, is kept in the collection of the Brown University John Hay Library in Providence, RI, one model for the Miskatonic University Orne Library.)

Danse Macabre

Danse Macabre (1538)

A satirical allegory on the universality of death illustrated with woodcuts by Hans Holbein: no matter one's station in life, the Dance of Death unites all. The original Danse Macabre consists of the dead or personified Death summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave, typically with a pope, emperor, king, child, and labourer. They were produced to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain were the glories of earthly life. This book refashions the late-medieval allegory of the Danse Macabre as a reformist satire, and one can see the beginnings of a gradual shift from traditional to reformed religion. The first book edition, containing forty-one woodcuts, was published at Lyons by the Treschsel brothers in 1538. The popularity of the work and the currency of its message are underscored by the fact that there were eleven editions before 1562 and over the sixteenth century perhaps as many as a hundred unauthorized editions and imitations. Ten further designs were added in later editions.

(Two copies of this book, bound in human skin, is kept in the collection of the Brown University John Hay Library in Providence, RI, one model for the Miskatonic University Orne Library.)

Others

In The Dunwich Horror, Lovecraft mentions other books by Davys, Thicknesse, Blair, and von Marten in the subject of cryptography ("Davys’ and Thicknesse’s eighteenth-century treatises").

Thicknesse's Treatise

Philip Thicknesse (A Treatise on the Art of Decyphering and of Writing in Cypher), 1772

Davys' Treatise

John Davys (An Essay on the Art of Decyphering: in which is inserted a Discourse of Dr Wallis), 1737

Blair's Treatise

William Blair (the writer of the comprehensive article "Cipher" in Rees's Cyclopaedia), 1819

von Marten's Treatise

Cours diplomatique ou tableau des relations des puissances de l'Europe, 3 vols. (Berlin, 1801)