Hamal,
The Simon Necronomicon (this is the correct spelling), is, in my opinion, definitely worth adding to your bookshelves.  KG thought highly of the book, and quotes extensively from it in the later volumes of the Trilogies.  That alone should tell you that the book does contain material of real value!  It's a book that has many editions suitable to satisfy everyone.  Very nice editions can cost many hundreds or more, but one could also get a paperback for less than $10.

Simon/Peter Lavenda is, indeed, a practitioner.  His most recent book The Dark Lord should put and end to that question once and for all.  I do like your idea of having a blank Necronomicon.  I too share a love of Lovecraft! The Mythos has inspired my magick for quite some time, and led to me becoming a member of the Esoteric Order of Dagon!

You said that you are a big fan of Lovecraft and a magical practitioner.  This statement could be interpreted multiple ways.  So, I'll just ask: do you have experience in working magically with the Lovecraftian Mythos?  This site is not really appropriate for a detailed discussion of this.  The Kenneth Grant Forum is ideal, and will be "going live" soon (right, Mick?).  In the meantime, Hamal, we can continue this discussion in greater detail using Private Messages, so just send one whenever you'd like.

In the ecstatic embrace of Father Dagon and Mother Hydra,
N.O.X

Thank you N.O.X

Excuse my spelling error it was not intentional. That information is very helpful. I will certainly look to add an edition of the Simon Necronomicon to my library now.

I will also drop you a PM regarding the rest of your post.

93
Hamal

I am about halfway through and am really enjoying it 🙂 I think what you will take from the book depends on how familiar you are with grants work, obviously if you have worked with it for some time I doubt you'll be coming to this work anticipating some grand revelation. For me personally as I am approaching grant's trilogies for the first time have found this utterly fascinating and intriguing, I had a fair idea of what grant was about but Levenda has opened my eyes somewhat and made me quite anxious to claim the rest of the trilogies. So imo, this is a great introductory text on what seems like rarely written about subjects.

Also I quite like the aesthetic of the book, its just a nice sturdy hardback which for $30 feels like a good purchase. Attached are some pics with the magical revival there for size comparison.

EDIT -- Hmm wouldn't let me attach. So here's the links to the pics: