49 replies to this topic

[Tex]

My copy of The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia (2008) lists the following stories featuring the Book of Skelos...

by REH (duh)
Black Colossus
The Hour of the Dragon
The Pool of the Black One

by REH and Lin Carter
The Hand of Nergal

by Carter and de Camp
Conan the Buccaneer

For some reason, it fails to mention a Mythos-specific story featuring the book.

Deuce, which one did you find?

Tex
(thinking he blew big bucks on a novelty mythos reference book)

[deuce]

My copy of The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia (2008) lists the following stories featuring the Book of Skelos...

by REH (duh)
Black Colossus
The Hour of the Dragon
The Pool of the Black One

by REH and Lin Carter
The Hand of Nergal

by Carter and de Camp
Conan the Buccaneer

For some reason, it fails to mention a Mythos-specific story featuring the book.

Hey Tex! I think Harms' book is a good one (though I dislike the mentions of RPG stuff). The 1st edition in '95 was a godsend for sorting out who came up with what and figuring out obscure references.

Deuce, which one did you find?

Tex
(thinking he blew big bucks on a novelty mythos reference book)

I used Jarocha-Ernst's "Concordance" and found out that Crispin Burnham mentioned the Book in one tale. Since I consider Burnham one of the worst Mythos writers out there, I won't try to find it.

[Tex]

Thanks for the reminder of the Jarocha-Ernst "Concordance," Deuce! I now remember I had one before Katrina (obviously, this is my cue to grab a replacement copy.)

Back on topic...

Since we've got the literary appearances of Skelos' books covered, does anyone want to take a swing at the appearances in graphic form?

Tex
(this topic has now cost me about $24 )

[Halfdane]

70 metal books found in cave in Jordan

How could this not make one recall Skelos? I'm glad that there is [apparently] a historical basis for Iron-Bound books! Sooooo awesome that some of them are even bound SHUT.

Does anybody know about the reputation of this site as a news source?

[theagenes]

70 metal books found in cave in Jordan

How could this not make one recall Skelos? I'm glad that there is [apparently] a historical basis for Iron-Bound books! Sooooo awesome that some of them are even bound SHUT.

Does anybody know about the reputation of this site as a news source?

There are so many red flags here I don't even know where to start.

[theagenes]

That didn't take long. A quick google search revealed that are indeed fakes and not even good ones at that. Here's one of many sites that points this out:

http://derrenbrown.c...istian-history/

Still, they look cool.

I suspect, however, that when Howard said iron-bound, he meant something like this:

http://www.bookclasp...rs/numbers3.jpg

[Kortoso]

Possible source of the name Skelos:

The Epitaph was discovered in 1883 by Sir W.M. Ramsay. The stone had been placed in a museum in Smyrna where it remained until the city was destroyed during the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), but was lost. Later it was found in the possession of a Turkish woman who had had the base ground down so it would serve as a support for a pot in her garden. While the stele would now stand upright, the grinding had obliterated the last line of the epitaph. The marble stele is now located in the National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet), in Copenhagen.

[deuce]

Possible source of the name Skelos:

The Epitaph was discovered in 1883 by Sir W.M. Ramsay. The stone had been placed in a museum in Smyrna where it remained until the city was destroyed during the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), but was lost. Later it was found in the possession of a Turkish woman who had had the base ground down so it would serve as a support for a pot in her garden. While the stele would now stand upright, the grinding had obliterated the last line of the epitaph. The marble stele is now located in the National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet), in Copenhagen.

Very cool! Some nice digging there, Mr. K.

[Kortoso]

Thanks. The rediscovery would have been in the news about Howard's time.

[Fernando]

What a wonderful discover, my friend! Thank you very much, Kortoso. I'm very glad to hear, by the first time in my life, authentic Ancient Greek Music!