119 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
119 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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_ _ _ _
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((___)) ((___))
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[ x x ] cDc communications [ x x ]
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\ / presents... \ /
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(` ') (` ')
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(U) (U)
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HISTORY OF THE BOVINOMICON
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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by The Raver
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>>> A CULT Publication......1988 <<<
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-cDc- CULT OF THE DEAD COW -cDc-
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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The history of the great Bovine mythos cycle is a lost and twisted one.
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Of the tales of the Bovine unknown, one literary work, one tome of Bovinity,
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does stand out. Yes, brutal reader, the BOVINOMICON.
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This being a short but complete outline of the history of this book, its
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author, The Raver, presents this work. The outline follows its various
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translations and editions from the time of the writing (AD 730) of the
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BOVINOMICON to the present day.
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===============================================================================
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Original title AL AZIF - Azif being the word used by the Arabs to
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designate that nocturnal sound (made by Bovine creatures) supposed to be the
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howling of daemons.
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Composed by Abdul Alhazred, a mad cow herder of Sanna, in Yemen, who is
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said to have flourished during the period of the Omminade Caliphs, circa AD
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700. He visited the ruins of Babylon and the subterranean secrets of Memphis
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and spent ten years alone in the great southern desert of Arabia - (the Roba El
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Khaliyeh or "Empty Space" of the ancients and "Dahna" or "Crimson" desert of
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the modern Arabs) - which is held to be inhabited by protective evil spirits
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and monsters of death. Of this desert many strange and unbelievable marvels
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are told by those who pretend to have penetrated it. In his last years
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Alhazred dwelt in Damascus, where the BOVINOMICON (AL AZIF) was written, and
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of his final death or disappearance (AD 738) many terrible and conflicting
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things are told. He is said by Ebn Khallikan (12th century biography) to have
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been seized by an invisible cow in broad daylight and devoured horribly before
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a large number of fright-frozen witnesses. Of his madness many things are
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told. He claimed to have seen the fabulous Irem, or City of Pillars, and to
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have found beneath the ruins of a certain nameless desert pasture the shocking
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annals and secrets of a race older than mankind. (Editors Note: A full desc-
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ription of the nameless pasture, and the annals and secrets of its inhabitants
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will be found in the t-file THE NAMELESS PASTURE, written by the author of
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this outline). He was only an indifferent Moslem, worshipping unknown Entities
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who he called Yog-Elsie and Bob-Sothoth.
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In AD 950 the AZIF, which had gained considerable, though surreptitious
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circulation amongst the philosophers of the age, was secretly translated into
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Greek by Theodorus Philetas of Constantinople under the title BOVINOMICON.
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For a century it impelled certain experimenters to terrible attempts, when
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it was suppressed and burnt by the patriarch Michael. After this it was only
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heard of furtively, but (1223) Olaus Wormius made a Latin translation later
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in the Middle Ages, and the Latin test was printed twice - once in the 15th
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century in black letter (evidently in Germany) and once in the 17th (probably
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Spanish); both editions being without identifying marks, and located as to
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time and place by internal typographical evidence only. The work, both Latin
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and Greek, was banned by Pope Gregory IX in 1232 shortly after its Latin
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translation, which called attention to it. The Arabic original was lost as
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early as Wormius' time, as indicated by his prefatory note; (there is, however,
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a vague account of a secret copy appearing in San Francisco during the present
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century, but later perished in fire), and no sight of the Greek copy - which
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was printed in Italy between 1500 and 1550 - has been reported since the
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burning of a certain Salem man's library in 1692. A translation made by Dr.
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Dee was never printed and exists only in fragments recovered from the original
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manuscript. Of the Latin texts now existing, one (15th century) is known to be
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in the British Museum under lock and key, while another (17th century) is in
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the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. A 17th century edition is in the Widener
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Library at Harvard, and in the library at Miskatonic University at Arkham; also
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in the library of the University of Buenos Aires. Numerous other copies exist
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in secret, and a 15th century one is persistently rumored to form a part of the
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collection of a celebrated American millionaire. An even more vague rumor
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credits the preservation of a 16th century Greek text in the Salem family
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Pickman; but if it was so preserved, it vanished with the artist R.U. Pickman,
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who disappeared in 1926. The book is rigidly suppressed by the authorities of
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most countries, and by all branches of organized ecclesiasticism. Reading
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leads to terrible consequences. It was from rumors of this book (of which
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relatively few of the general public know) that R.W. Chambers is said to have
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derived the idea of his early novel, "THE KING OF CUD".
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--------------------------------------
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CHRONOLOGY
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One - AL AZIF written circa AD 730 at Damascus by Abdul Alhazred.
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Two - Translated into Greek as BOVINOMICON, AD 950 by Theodorus Philetas.
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Three - Burnt by Patriarch Michael AD 1050 (ie, Greek; Arabic text now lost).
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Four - Olaus translates Greek into Latin, AD 1228.
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Five - Latin and Greek editions suppressed by Gregory IX - AD 1232.
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Six - 14..? Black letter edition printed in Germany.
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Seven - 15..? Greek text printed in Italy.
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Eight - 16..? Spanish translations of Latin text.
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===============================================================================
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PERSONS interested in learning more details about the nameless pasture
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mentioned in this outline, where Alhazred spent much time, should read the
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t-file THE NAMELESS PASTURE by THE RAVER, which gives a detailed description.
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The file is also a cDc communications release.
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This t-file is dedicated to my favorite author, H.P. Lovecraft, who, now
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that we have had time to take his work into perspective, is, no doubt,
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unsurpassed as the twentieth century's best practitioner of the horror tale.
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"No weird story can truly produce terror unless it is devised with all the
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care and versimilitude of an actual hoax."
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-- H.P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith (17 October 1930)
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===============================================================================
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(c)1988 cDc communications by The Raver 4/22/88-57
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All Rights Worth Shit
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