Codex Seraphinianus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Codex Seraphinianus is an artist book by the Italian architect, industrial designer and artist Luigi Serafini , which he wrote and illustrated in 30 months between 1976 and 1978.

Depending on the edition, it comprises around 360 pages and appears to be an illustrated encyclopedia from another, strange world. The text is printed in a fantasy language with made-up characters and lavishly equipped with colorful, surrealistic and detailed illustrations. Its appearance is reminiscent of the Voynich manuscript ; the reader associates writings from lost cultures that are no longer legible for us.

Literary and artistic godparents of the book are on the one hand Diderot's encyclopedia , in which the knowledge of the 18th century is summarized and presented in an orderly manner and illustrated with detailed illustrations, as well as the fantastic imagery of Hieronymus Bosch and the - fictitious - Chinese encyclopedia quoted by Borges .

The book was first edited and published in a two-volume edition in 1981 by the Italian artist and publisher Franco Maria Ricci , who specializes in careful and costly facsimile editions of outstanding testimonies of book art and in the promotion of young artists and a complete edition of the works of Borges has in the program. The paper of the lavishly manufactured book, which is printed in small numbers, is handmade, bound in silk with gold stamping and protected with a cardboard and half-linen folder.

A one-volume edition followed in 1993, and a revised Italian edition with new illustrations appeared in 2006.

construction

If you deduce from the pictures, the book probably covers the following topics in 11 chapters:

  1. The flora of the unknown world, including migratory trees or those that grow in the form of chairs, create everyday objects, etc.
  2. The fauna: living beings that are similar to those on our earth, consist of household appliances or perform strange mimicry .
  3. Other two-legged life forms and their habitat, some of which are presumably political and some that mutate into big cats.
  4. Strange particles and particles, probably the physics of the fantastic world.
  5. Bizarre machines and vehicles
  6. Humanoid creatures, their subspecies, ethnicities, and their behavior, even with wheels instead of feet and undead .
  7. Probably a listing of historical personalities and their life dates, skeletons, former potentates as well as a representation of wars and political customs.
  8. The script, which is used throughout the Codex, is dealt with here, presumably also the language, pronunciation and grammar.
  9. Food and its preparation, the cultic adoration of refrigerators, strange clothes and probably the context in which they are worn.
  10. Playing cards, games, sports and acts that appear religious.
  11. The architecture of the alien world; daring buildings are shown that even hang between two abysses.

Scripture of the Codex

The script and language in which the codex is written has not yet been unraveled. The font resembles an italic , it appears to be written in the left-to-right direction, in horizontal lines from top to bottom, and it has ascenders and descenders.

In an interview with the Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles on May 8, 2009, Serafini said that the writing of the Codex was asemic and that his writing experience was similar to that of " automatic writing, " and that he wanted to achieve that through his alphabet Readers experience the same sensations as children when they sit in front of books they cannot yet read, but which they know make sense to adults.

expenditure

  • In 1993 an expanded one-volume edition was published.
    • French edition with a foreword by Italo Calvino , trans. by Yves Hersant and Geneviève Lambert, Milano: Franco Maria Ricci [Les signes de l'homme, 18], 1993. ISBN 88-216-2027-1 ;
  • In 2006 another, revised, relatively inexpensive edition was published in Italy with new illustrations and a preface by the author at Rizzoli in Milan. ISBN 88-17-01389-7 .
  • In 2013 an anniversary edition, revised by Serafini and supplemented with new drawings, appeared at Rizzoli, together with a limited, numbered luxury edition. ISBN 0-8478-4213-4 .
  • In 2014, a one-volume edition was published in Ukraine - the first Russian edition. Kiev, St.Petersburg: Laurus 2014. ISBN 978-966-2449-42-6

literature

  • John Coulthart: Another Green World, the Codex Seraphinianus 2002. Full text

Web links