Necronomicon was the first major published compendium of images by Swiss artist H. R. Giger. Originally published in 1977, the book was given to director Ridley Scott during the pre-production of the film Alien, who then hired Giger to produce artwork and conceptual designs for the film.[1] [2]
The book was originally published by Sphinx Verlag and was republished in 1991 by Morpheus International with additional artwork from Giger's Alien designs.[3] A subsequent collection of his images followed as H. R. Giger's Necronomicon 2, printed in 1985 by Edition C of Switzerland.[4]
Giger's Necronomicon is named for H. P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire Lovecraft invented and used as a plot device in his stories.
Giger's Necronomicon was influential in the design of the 1993 video game Doom inspiring some of the disturbing environments and hellish monsters.[5]