BBC News - Friday 13th: The accidental superstition?
"In 1907 a book called Friday, the
Thirteenth was published, by a stock promoter called Thomas Lawson. It was
the inspiration for the Friday 13th mythology which culminated in the lurid film
and TV franchises starting in the 1980s."
At the time of writing (Friday 13th!) available free for download from Amazon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=thomas+lawson+thirteenth
