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A Book of the Dead prototype from the production of Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead. Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) and his friends discovered a mysterious, flesh-bound book in the isolated cabin they were vacationing in and unknowingly released an ancient evil by playing a tape of incantations read from the book.

Early in the production of the film, then titled "Book of the Dead," this first iteration of the titular Book was created at a larger scale, inspired by the size of the tablets in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. Ultimately, director Raimi decided to go with a smaller book, which led to the creation of the book referred to as the Naturom Demonto in the first film and, more famously, as the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis in the sequels.

This book, from the personal collection of special effects artist Tom Sullivan, features a cardboard cover with gauze wrappings and a latex "flesh" layer over the whole thing and 14 blank yellow paper pages (each two layers thick) inside. The cover of the book originally featured five faces present, to represent the five characters in the film, but much of the latex has dried and fallen off, making these faces now indiscernible. Additionally, the corners exhibit wear, with bits of frayed fibers present, as well as adhesive residue and some staining. Dimensions: 15" x 22" x 1.5" (38.25 cm x 56 cm x 4 cm)

Additional Provenance: Letter of Authenticity from Sullivan.

Estimate: $2,000 - 4,000
Special effects maestro Tom Sullivan first met director Sam Raimi in the mid-1970s, forming an immediate bond over their mutual love of practical effects in filmmaking. Soon after, Raimi asked Sullivan to create special effects for his 1978 horror short Within the Woods, starring a young Bruce Campbell. It was through this acclaimed short film that funding was secured to create a feature-length adaptation, The Evil Dead, for which Sullivan again played a vital role in the special effects and art direction. His most celebrated contribution to the horror classic was the iconic Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, the Book of the Dead, for which Sullivan was not only essential in the design and construction, but also in the hand-illustration of all the intricate artwork and symbols written throughout its internal pages. The symbols used in the Necronomicon - an alphabet Sullivan humorously referred to as "Bullscrit" - were of the artist's own creation. After the franchise-birthing success of the film, Sullivan continued to collaborate with Raimi on its sequels, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, and worked on other horror films such as Chris Walas' The Fly II and Michael Spence's The Dread. Propstore is pleased to present select artifacts from Sullivan's personal collection, reflecting decades of work on the productions of the extraordinary Evil Dead films, including rare surviving pieces from the Within the Woods short that started it all, hand-drawn Necronomicon pages, original Deadite make-up appliances, a Kandarian dagger, and the only Necronomicon Ex-Mortis (then called the Naturom Demonto) from the first Evil Dead film known to exist today.