Resumé des games précédentes #5b: The Mauretania

Publication History
Originally published as Unaussprechlichen Kulten in Dusseldorf in 1839. This edition had heavy leather covers and iron hasps. Not many copies were printed in the first edition. No more than a half-dozen copies of this edition are likely to survive, for many owners burned their copies in panic after learning the manner of the author's demise. This edition was nicknamed the Black Book , not because of its binding, but because of its dark contents
A London Printer named Bridewell pirated the work and issued a cheap translation for sensational effect in 1845. This edition was full of grotesque wood-cuts, misspellings, and faulty translations.

Both editions were suppressed, and copies were exceedingly rare until the publication of the carefully expurgated reprint by the Golden Goblin Press of New York in 1909. Fully a fourth of the original material was omitted from this edition. The book was handsomely bound and exquisitely illustrated by Diego Vasquez. This edition was too expensive for popular consumption.

Writing Style
The contents range from startling clarity of exposition to murky ambiguity, and there are statements and hints to freeze the blood of a thinking man. Von Junzt may have written vaguely at times because he was afraid to reveal too much, and deliberately gave dark and mysterious hints, that would have meaning only to those who know.

The extreme ambiguity and the incredible subject matter have long caused the book to be regarded as the ravings of a maniac, but much of his assertions are unanswerable

General Contents
The bulk of the work concerns cults and objects of dark worship which Von Junzt claimed existed in his own day.
One of the cult survivals that Von Junzt spoke of was the Bran cult, which he alleged persists to modern times

Mysterious Keys *
At many points Von Junzt speaks of keys, whose nature is not explained. . The Black Stone narrator inferred that these keys are Keys to Outer Doors, links with an abhorrent past, and perhaps with abhorrent spheres of the present.

One of the keys that von Junzt mentions is the Black Stone, a monolith that broods among the mountains of Hungary.

Another key is to be found in an old temple in a Honduras jungle. There a strange god was worshipped by a tribe that became extinct before the coming of the Spaniards. The mummy of the last high priest is to be found in this temple, and on a copper chain around his neck is a red, toad-shaped jewel. This jewel is the key to the treasure of the temple, which lies hidden in a subterranean crypt beneath the temple altar. The Golden Goblin edition includes text describing the temple, but barely mentions the mummy. The Bridewell translation mistakenly gives the temple location as Guatamala. The Bridewell text says that the jewel is a key, but does not say what it is a key to. It is the Dusseldorf edition which states that the jewel is the key to hidden treasure beneath the temple, and later reveals that the "treasure" of the temple is the very god that was worshipped there.
Unseen Worlds

One chapter deals with the summoning of daemons out of the Void. The book maintains that unseen worlds of unholy dimensions press on our universe, and that their inhabitants sometimes burst through the veil to our world at the bidding of evil sorcerors.

T'yog and Ancient Mu
Some of the hieroglyphs in the scroll of T'yog also appear in Nameless Cults . Etienne-Laurent de Marigny wrote an article for the Occult Review about resemblances between the T'yog scroll and portions of Nameless Cults , which included the same hieroglyphs and a story centering on a similar cylinder and scroll. This information was copied and embroidered on by many articles appearing in the popular press in 1931-32. [HPL Aeons 268-271]
As related in Nameless Cults , T'yog was a High-Priest of Shub-Niggurath in ancient Mu. He dared to oppose the cult of Ghatanothoa, which sacrificed twelve young warriors and twelve maidens to Ghatanothoa each year. T'yog wrote a protective spell on a scroll before climbing Yaddith-Gho to confront Ghatanothoa; but before he left, the protective scroll was stolen and a worthless one substituted for it by Ghatanothoa's priests. As a result, when T'yog saw Ghatanothoa, his body was immediately petrified, though his brain remained eternally alive.

Elements of von Junzt's story turned up in new accounts of cult activities in the spring of 1932 . A swarthy Hawaiian cultist possessed many sheets of hieroglyphs like those in the T'yog scroll and the Black Boo. When Richard H. Johnson saw the image of Ghatanothoa on the retina of the T'yog mummy, his description reminded listeners of lore in the Black Book]

The Hyborian Age
Nameless Cults also tells of an age that Von Junzt said he had discovered, called the Hyborian age, which preceded recorded history. The book tells of the destruction of Atlantis and Lemuria; of the flight of a tribe of savages to the Arctic Circle, where they evolved into the Hyborians; of how the Hyborians were never able to conquer Stygia, in the area now known as Egypt; and of how a different barbarian Nordic race eventually overthrew the Hyborians and also the Stygians.

Nyarlathotep
Von Junzt, in Unassprechlichen Kulten , describes Nyarlathotep as "adorned with tentacles," much like another of the Great Old Ones (presumably Cthulhu).

Surviving Copies and Modern Readers ( a voir, j'en connais surment quelque uns)

Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee consulted the Unaussprechlichen Kulten while possessed by a mind of the Great Race. He wrote corrections in the book in German, and also wrote something in the curvilinear hieroglyphs of the Great Race. Similarly, Amos Piper consulted a copy of the Unaussprechlichen Kulten while possessed by a member of the Great Race.

Among John Conrad's circle, at least Conrad himself, John Kirowan, Clemants, and Taverel had all read the book. According to John O'Donnel, Conrad and Kirowan had delved into the "Latin version." However, this is probably a mistaken reference to the Dusseldorf edition, which was likely in German; for it had a German title, and as mentioned above, Peaslee's corrections to the text were written in German.

The Thing on the Roof narrator obtained a copy of the Dusseldorf edition from Prof. James Clement of Richmond, VA. The narrator shared the book with Tussman, who had previously consulted the Bridewell and Golden Goblin editions.

When John Conrad explored the house in the oaks near Old Dutchtown, N.Y., he found a copy of the Unaussprechlichen Kulten.
Michael Strang read from a copy of the Dusseldorf editio.
Richard H. Johnson read the Golden Goblin edition, and was left dizzy and nauseated, but thankful that he had not seen the original unexpurgated text.

Robert Blake found a copy of the Unaussprechlichen Kulten in the abandoned church of the Starry Wisdom sect. Blake previously had access to a different copy, for he had already read the book.
Some figures in Rogers' Museum were drawn from the Unaussprechlichen Kulten.

Edward Pickman Derby read the Unaussprechlichen Kulten in the Miskatonic University library. Walter Gilman also consulted a copy of the Unaussprechlichen Kulten in the Miskatonic University library.
Doctor Wycherly had a copy of the "criminally expurgated" Golden Goblin edition.

Laban Shrewsbury told Horvath Blayne that the Cthulhu Mythos sprang from old manuscripts including the Unaussprechlichen Kulten. Shrewsbury also spoke to Andrew Phelan and Nayland Colum of various esoteric texts, including the Unaussprechlichen Kulten.

Winfield Phillips borrowed either an original copy or a photostat of Unaussprechlichen Kulten from Prof. Seneca Lapham. It probably was borrowed or copied from the Miskatonic University library.
The book shows up with disconcerting regularity in the collections of deceased occultists. Thus, Dan Harrop found a copy in the collection of his late cousin, Abel Harrop. Marius Phillips found a copy that had been hidden by his late uncle, Sylvan Phillips. The Gable Window narrator found a copy in the house of his late cousin, Wilbur Akeley. Alijah Atwood found one among Dr. Jean-FrancoisCharriere's books and papers. Haddon found a copy among the books of Amos Tuttle.

Soames Hemery found an esoteric book by a German doctor; possibly this was Von Junzt.

In the forger Alastair White's spurious catalog of esoteric books for sale, he offered a copy of Unaussprechlichen Kulten. The catalog also quoted Von Junzt as stating that the Necronomicon is the basis of Occult literature. However, the private detective Solar Pons dismissed both books as non-existent except in the imagination of some minor American horror writers [AWD Six 124]

Ces tablettes; oeuvres d'un chaman d'Asie , furent découvertes en 1913 par l'archéologueHadley Copeland, dans le tombeau de Zanthu. Il les étudia pendant 3 ans avant de publier une brochure qu'il présenta comme la traduction de ces tablettes impies.

Cet ouvrage fut tres rapidement condamné par les milieux scientifiques comme une plaisanterie anarchiste de mauvais goût. Pourtant, avec le Manuscrit Ponape ramené à Arkham en 1734 par un capitaine de vaiseau marchand, Abner Ezéchiel Hoag, et que l'on peut consulterà la bibliothéque Kester de Salem, les Tablettes de Zanthu sont le seul texte où l'on cite une descendance de Cthulh, toujours contestée par certains occultistes dont Abdul Alhazred. Cette descendance comporterait trois fils, Ghatanothoa, Ythogtha et Zog-Ommog, ainsi qu'une fille destinée à perpétuer Cthulhu dans les temps à venir, Cthylla.

Les deux brefs extraits qui suivent sont issus du Manuscrit Ponape :
"... il reviendra dans toute son horreur quand le Grands Anciens seront de nouveau libres de parcourirle monde comme jadis..."

"... Chez une intelligence femelle de la lointaine et ultr-tellurique Xoth, le double soleil vert pénombreux qui scintille comme un oeil démoniaque dans les ténèbres au-delà d'Abbith ..."