Did the original official guide contain much lore?

[Voland]

Prima guides are usually sold, as a 3-pack: Spell Guide, New players handbook and something else...

Handbook is a fun read occasionally, has a bit of race-specific lore.
For more lore I recommend Maps of Myrist - big book, can grab it cheap on Amazon.

Prima spell book is extremely useful, I've been using it for many years!
It is actually closer to p99 than to Live now, since it was released around PoP. So, all the spell levels are correct, just need to ignore few post-classic spells.