The Necronomicon is a powerful tome of black magic referenced in the works of H.P. Lovecraft, though due to the popularity of Lovecraft as a writer, the Necronomicon would become a staple of horror and has appeared in countless works of fiction. It was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story "The Hound", written in 1922, though its purported author, the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, had been quoted a year earlier in Lovecraft's "The Nameless City". Among other things, the work contains an account of the Great Old Ones, their history, and the means for summoning them.