Nameless Cults

A volume of esoteric lore by Von Junzt, also known as Unaussprechlichen Kulten and the Black Book (1).

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. [REH Black (online text), Hoofed, Roof (online text); HPL Aeons]

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. [REH Black (online text), Roof (online text); HPL Aeons].

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. [REH Black (online text), Roof (online text); HPL Aeons]

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 [REH Black (online text)]. 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 [REH Children (online text)].

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 [REH Roof (online text)].

General Contents

The bulk of the work concerns cults and objects of dark worship which Von Junzt claimed existed in his own day [REH Black (online text)].

One of the cult survivals that Von Junzt spoke of was the Bran cult, which he alleged persists to modern times [REH Children (online text)].

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. [REH Black (online text)]

One of the keys that von Junzt mentions is the Black Stone, a monolith that broods among the mountains of Hungary. [REH Black (online text)]

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 Guatemala. 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. [REH Roof (online text)]

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 sorcerers. [REH Hoofed]

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 (online text)]

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 Mt. 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. [Aeons]

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 Book. 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. [Aeons]

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. [REH Untitled]

Nyarlathotep

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

Surviving Copies and Modern Readers

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. [HPL Time (online text)] Similarly, Amos Piper consulted a copy of the Unaussprechlichen Kulten while possessed by a member of the Great Race [AWD Space].

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." [REH Children (online text)] 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 Tussmann, who had previously consulted the Bridewell and Golden Goblin editions. [REH Roof (online text)].

When John Conrad explored the house in the oaks near Old Dutchtown, N.Y., he found a copy of the Unaussprechlichen Kulten [REH House (online text) 126].

Michael Strang read from a copy of the Dusseldorf edition [REH Hoofed].

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 [HPL Aeons].

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. [HPL Haunter (online text)]

Some figures in Rogers' Museum were drawn from the Unaussprechlichen Kulten [HPL Museum (online text)].

Edward Pickman Derby read the Unaussprechlichen Kulten in the Miskatonic University library [HPL Doorstep (online text)]. Walter Gilman also consulted a copy of the Unaussprechlichen Kulten in the Miskatonic University library [HPL WitchHouse (online text)].

The tiny man told Doctor Wycherly that books such as Nameless Cults would not be found lying about in bookstores. Doctor Wycherly had a copy of the "criminally expurgated" Golden Goblin edition of 1909, which he found to be peurile [HH Guardian].

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

Winfield Phillips borrowed either an original copy or a photostat of Unaussprechlichen Kulten from Dr. Seneca Lapham. It probably was borrowed or copied from the Miskatonic University library. [AWD Lurker]

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 [AWD Whippoorwills]. Marius Phillips found a copy that had been hidden by his late uncle, Sylvan Phillips [AWD Seal (online text)]. The Gable Window narrator found a copy in the house of his late cousin, Wilbur Akeley [AWD Gable (online text)]. Alijah Atwood found one among Dr. Jean-Francois Charriere's books and papers [AWD Survivor (online text)]. Haddon found a copy among the books of Amos Tuttle [AWD Hastur].

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

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]

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