Thread: Codex Seraphinianus

(I'm pretty much ctrl-ving this from another forum, but it's mad interesting, so I don't care)

In the late 70's, an Italian architect/artist/designer named Luigi Serafini wrote a book called 'Codex Sereraphinianus'. It was written in a strange language, that is still not decipherable today. basically its a graphical encyclopedia about a parallel universe pretty much. Really it is a sort of parody about our world.

The amount of detail and precision that went into this is really fucking remarkable. Just how imaginative this guy must have been to create this book to such a high degree just blows my mind.

This quote describes the book much better than I can:

Codex Seraphinianus is a much more elaborate work. In fact, it is a highly idiosyncratic magnum opus by an Italian architect indulging his sense of fancy to the hilt. It consists of two volumes in a completely invented language (including the numbering system, which is itself rather esoteric), penned entirely by the author, accompanied by thousands of beautifully drawn colour pictures of the most fantastic scenes, machines, beasts, feasts, and so on. It purports to be a vast encyclopedia of a hypothetical land somewhat like the earth, with many creatures resembling people to various degrees, but many creatures of unheard-of bizarreness promenading throughout the countryside. Serafini has sections on physics, chemistry, mineralogy (including many drawings of elaborate gems), geography, botany, zoology, sociology, linguistics, technology, architecture, sports (of all sorts), clothing, and so on. The pictures have their own internal logic, but to our eyes they are filled with utter non sequiturs.

A typical example depicts an automobile chassis covered with some huge piece of what appears to be melting gum in the shape of a small mountain range. All over the gum are small insects, and the wheels of the “car” appear to have melted as well. The explanation is all there for anyone to read, if they can decipher Serafinian. Unfortunately, no one knows that language. Fortunately, on another page there is one picture of a scholar standing by what is apparently a Rosetta Stone. Unfortunately, the only language on it, besides Serafinian itself, is an unknown kind of hieroglyphics. Thus the stone is of no help unless you already know Serafinian. Oh, well… Many of the pictures are grotesque and disturbing, but others are extremely beautiful and visionary. The inventiveness that it took to come up with all these conceptions of a hypothetical land is staggering.

Anyways, here's a good scanning of the entire book. I recommend smoking a bowl (atleast one...) and taking a good long gander at it.
Codex Sereraphinianus