The Codex Seraphinianus is an illustrated encyclopedia of an imaginary world, created by Italian artist, architect and industrial designer Luigi Serafini between 1976 and 1978 and first published in 1981. It has approximately 360 pages (depending on edition) and is written in an imaginary writing system.

Originally published in Italy, it has been released in several countries. It has been compared to the still undeciphered Voynich manuscript, the story "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" by Jorge Luis Borges, and the artwork of M. C. Escher

In a talk at the Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles on 11 May 2009, Serafini stated that there is no meaning behind the Codex<nowiki/>'s script, which is asemic; that his experience in writing it was similar to automatic writing; and that what he wanted his alphabet to convey was the sensation children feel with books they cannot yet understand, although they see that the writing makes sense for adults. However, the book's page-numbering system was decoded by Allan C. Wechsler and Bulgarian linguist Ivan Derzhanski, as being a variation of base 21.

Douglas Hofstadter, in Metamagical Themas, finds many of the illustrations "grotesque and disturbing" and others "extremely beautiful and visionary". He says the book "seems [to some people] to glorify entropy, chaos, and incomprehensibility".

American journalist Jim Dwyer finds that the work is an early critique of the Information Age.

See also

  • The Voynich manuscript, an illustrated codex hand-written in an unknown writing system from the early 15th century
  • A Book from the Sky, a similar book by Chinese artist Xu Bing, consisting of new, meaningless Chinese characters, printed from hand-carved blocks
  • Fantastic Planet, a French film consisting of similar abstract imagery
  • After Man and Man After Man by Dougal Dixon, books illustrating speculated future zoology and anthropology, respectively.
  • The Atlas des Géographes d'Orbæ, a French young adult fiction series by François Place, blending storytelling with richly illustrated maps to depict an imaginative world.

References

  • Another Green World: The Codex Seraphinianus, by John Coulthart
  • Peter Schwenger's Codex Seraphinianus, Hallucinatory Encyclopedia
  • "The Worlds of Luigi Serafini" by Jordan Hurder
  • Curiosities - Codex Seraphinianus by Bud Webster at F&SF
  • "Codex Seraphinianus Resource and Analysis Site" by Kane X. Faucher
  • "Codex Seraphinianus: A New Edition of the Strangest Book In the World" on Dangerous Minds
  • Look Inside the Extremely Rare Codex Seraphinianus, the Weirdest Encyclopedia Ever. Wired