A screen-matched Naturom Demonto, later known as Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, Book of the Dead from Sam Raimi’s 1981 film The Evil Dead with pages hand-illustrated by the prop’s creator, Michigan’s own Tom Sullivan.
Archaeologist Raymond Knowby (Bob Dorian) discovered the ancient book known as the Naturom Demonto or “Book of the Dead” and made recordings of reciting the passages, which, when listened to by Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) and his friends, unleashed the evil force of the Kandarian Demon. Fine details in the hand-illustrated linework and stains from the distressing process screen-match eight pages of this Naturom Demonto to close-ups of its pages in the film.
The Book of the Dead was featured in all three films of the original Evil Dead trilogy. It was referred to as the Naturom Demonto in The Evil Dead, but later as the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis in Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. Raimi changed the book’s name after Sullivan told him about the Necronomicon that famously appeared in horror and science-fiction’s writer H.P. Lovecraft’s works, starting with the 1924 short story The Hound. This Naturom Demonto is the only Book of the Dead from the very first Evil Dead film known to survive today, and the only hero book ever created.
This book, from the personal collection of special effects artist Tom Sullivan, is composed of a brown latex-coated cardboard cover filled with hand-illustrated 38 pages (glued together in pairs to form thicker pages) of parchment-color paper that were intentionally distressed by production.
The pages feature original artwork hand-illustrated by Sullivan, with his main inspiration for the imagery being Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks on anatomy. For the ancient symbols, Sullivan devised his own alphabet that he humorously called “Bullscrit.”
The book’s cover was made from cardboard coated with latex and is now separated into three pieces (front, spine and back) with some latex loss to the components. The interior pages are also loose from the covers. The book has been preserved unrestored to this point, though restoration to reassemble it to its original state would be possible. One of the pages that appears in the movie has been lost since the production and is no longer in the book. Additionally, most of the latex on the cover has fallen off, revealing the cardboard underneath; the cover has broken into three pieces (front, spine, and back); and the pages have come unattached from the cover. The pages additionally exhibit adhesive residue, slight tearing from use and age, and separation of the original glued elements. Dimensions: 5.5″ x 2″ x 7.5″ (14 cm x 5.25 cm x 19.25 cm)
What: Buy the original book ‘Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, Book of the Dead’ from Sam Raimi’s 1981 film ‘The Evil Dead’
When: Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Where: Virtual online via Propstore Auction
Cost: $50,000 – $100,000 estimate
Buy here
https://propstoreauction.com/lot-details/index/catalog/449/lot/156964
Full auction
