Ibn Schacabac

Ibn Schacabac, often rendered as Ibn Schacabao, is a fictional character mentioned in two stories by H. P. Lovecraft. There is some confusion about the correct spelling of the character's name.
== In Lovecraft's Fiction ==
The first mention of Ibn Schacabac is in a quote from the Necronomicon that Lovecraft created to conclude his short story "The Festival," written in 1923. It includes the passage: Wisely did Ibn Schacabac say, that happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy the town at night whose wizards are all ashes. Then in his novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, written in 1927, Lovecraft presents a letter from Joseph Curwen to Simon Orne that includes the line: I laste Night strucke on ye Wordes that bringe up YOGGE-SOTHOTHE, and sawe for ye firste Time that fface spoke of by Ibn Schacabac in ye ——. In both passages, Ibn Schacabac is presented as an authority on occult matters. To be cited by Abdul Alhazred, the character must have lived in the 8th century or earlier. 
== Behind the Mythos ==
Ibn Schacabac means "Son of Schacabac" in classical Arabic. Schacabac is the name of a character from The Arabian Nights, in the Andrew Lang edition that Lovecraft knew and loved as a child.Library Cthulhuvius, "Arabian Nights." Schacabac, also known as the Barber's Sixth Brother, is a starving man who appreciates an imaginary meal offered to him by a wealthy man, and is rewarded with a real feast and a job managing the rich man's house.Project Gutenberg, The Arabian Nights Entertainment, by Andrew Lang (Longmans, Green and Co, 1918 [1898]). (The rich man's name is Barmecide, and the phrase "Barmecide feast" has come to mean pretended or illusory generosity.Word Histories, "Meaning and Origin of the Phrase 'Barmecide Feast.'")
Both "The Festival" and Charles Dexter Ward were originally published by Weird Tales, and in both original publications the name appears as "Ibn Schacabac."Internet Archive, Weird Tales, Vol. 5 No. 1 (January 1925), "The Festival," by H. P. Lovecraft, p. 174.Internet Archive, Weird Tales, Vol. 35 No. 9 (May 1941), The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, by H. P. Lovecraft, p. 28. Lovecraft's hand-written manuscript of Charles Dexter Ward likewise says "Ibn Schacabac."Brown University Library, Brown Digital Repository, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, by H. P. Lovecraft, p. 40. When "The Festival" was reprinted by Arkham House, however, the name was rendered as "Ibn Schacabao," while it was printed correctly as "Ibn Schacabac" in Arkham House's Charles Dexter Ward.Narkive Newsgroup Archive, alt.horror.cthulhu, "Ibn Schacabac (not Ibn Schacabao)," 2013.
S. T. Joshi, while correcting a great many textual errors in Arkham House's Lovecraft reprints, unfortunately "corrected" the Charles Dexter Ward version to conform to the misprint in "The Festival." This mistake has been corrected in Joshi's Variorum Edition. 
== References ==
Category:Humans
Category:Characters Originating From Lovecraft Circle Works