Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Tommy found volumes in German, French, Russian, Spanish, Latin, and two in English. Of them, the ones that appeared to have seen the most use were the ones in English and the one in Latin. respectively titled G’harne Fragments, Ye Booke of Comunicacions with ye Angel Dzyon, and Liber Ivonis.
One of the English ones is a leather bound manuscript, in a medium folio, slightly damaged with some foxing and occasionally irregularly sized pages. No title or author is given on the cover but a frontispiece identifies it as Ye Booke of Comunicacions with ye Angel Dzyon. The manuscript contains text in archaic English and an unknown set of symbols as well as marginal notes in what appears to be Greek. This book is a loosely organized collection of what can be described, for lack of a better term, as séances between an unnamed medium and an “angelic spirit” identified in the text as Dzyon.
The next English volume is a slim, unadorned, pasteboard-bound work in that appears to be 128 pages in length. The title "G’harne Fragments" is printed on both the pasteboard cover (a pale cream, with black ink) and the spine, with the author’s name (Sir Amery Wendy-Smith) printed below the title. No publisher is listed nor is a date of publication given. The production quality and style suggests a small university press or that the author paid for publication himself; the finished product is of inexpensive materials. There are numerous illustrations depicting some sort of cipher or artificial language consisting of haphazardly arranged dots and a scattering of astronomical charts. A handwritten dedication on the title page says “Many thanks for your advice and aid, W-S.” Scattered throughout the text are a few passages underlined in meticulous pencil lines. This work provides a supposed translation of inscriptions first discovered by British explorer Sir Howard Windrop in a hitherto unknown ruined city in Africa, referred to as “G’harne” by the author. Expanding on Windrop’s earlier translation, Wendy-Smith, claims that the text contains the fragmentary records of a prehistoric, (perhaps even non-human) civilization.
The Latin work is a large vellum manuscript bound in brass-capped leather. The interior of the work (entitled Liber Ivonis) is in illuminated Latin, accompanied by copious marginal illustrations, miniatures, and decorated initials (most of which seem to consist of a rather fanciful toad or frog). The manuscript binding is in fair condition—some of the brass fittings have been lost, the inside cover has been gouged repeatedly (apparently to remove a book plate, the scraps of which remain, but are totally illegible), and there are recent small scorch marks on the rear cover. The manuscript interior is in excellent condition. The artwork within depicts many strange scenes, some of which are rather disturbing and unlike those found in a typical medieval work.
From what Tommy can recall of his Latin, it's hard to get much on a quick skim, but he can see that this work is a grimoire allegedly written by the magician Ivon “of Hyperborea.” It serves as both a grimoire and to provide an autobiographical account of the author’s life, from his time as an apprentice to his departure from Hyperborea. It will take much more study to get more than that.
A small crate stenciled Randolph Shipping Company, Port Hedland, Western Australia, Dominion of Australia. In smaller letters, it said Personal to Mr. Randolph. Within the smaller crate, he saw a sixteen inch bust of a figure whose head was oddly shaped and beset by tentacles on the lower half.