Unaussprechlichen Kulten
This black leather bound book was written by Friedrich Wilhelm von Junzt in 1795. It’s true name is Unaussprechlichen Kulten. The author took a short time off and then returned to begin writing a new manuscript to include additional details to the Unaussprechlichen Kulten. Six months following, Friedrich Wilhelm von Junz was found in his room behind a locked and barred door. He had been strangled, his notes torn and scattered around him. The contents of the new manuscript remained a mystery because his friend, Alexis Ladaeu burned the new manuscript and its notes before committing suicide by slashing his throat with a butcher’s knife.
The first edition of the German text appeared in 1839 in Düsseldorf. The English edition was issued by Bridewall in London in 1845, but contained numerous misprints and was badly translated. A heavily expurgated edition was later issued in New York by GG Press in 1909. Original editions in German have a heavy leather cover and iron hasps. Few copies of the earliest edition still exist because most were burnt by their owners when word of von Junzt’s gruesome demise became common knowledge. An edition is known to be kept in a locked vault at the Miskatonic University library. The rest as rumored to have been hunted down and collected by members of the Church of Starry Wisdom.
Within his book, von Junzt discusses his findings regarding worship patterns across the world by several cults. Part of this volume deals with commonly known secret societies, like the Dark Brotherhood and the Cult of Cthulhu. The text contains information on cults that worship pre-human deities and includes hieroglyphs relating to the latter. There is also information on more recent cults: the worship of Cthulhu, the Tcho-tcho cults of Leng, the people of the Black Stone, the Hyborian Age, and the worldwide sects of Ghatanothoa. At certain points, von Junzt’s rational presentation of these cults breaks down into disjointed ramblings.
