Customer Reviews

Codex seraphinianus (Latin Edition)

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We owe this 20-year old piece of high fantasy to a Roman architect, Luigi Serafini. This is a large book of splendid, eerie illustrations of an impossible world in a parallel universe, with copious comments in an incomprehensible language in an imaginary script. A world at once familiar, inhabited as it is by humans, and hauntingly different, with its very own laws of physics, its strange fauna, its stranger flora, its unimaginable society, technology, even mathematics. The Codex Seraphinianus is to that world what Diderot's Encyclopaedia is to ours, only lavishly and artistically illustrated. A feast for the eyes, a tease for the brain, to which you will find yourselves drawn again and again, and again, in ever renewed fascination. It is a particular joy in the Italian edition (published by Franco Maria Ricci of Milan) if you can afford the outrageous price -- some US$250: hand-made paper, a hard-cover bound in black silk in a box clad in black silk, such luxuries do not come cheaply

An encyclopedia of an imaginary world akin to ours but both more beautiful and less intelligible that forces the reader/viewer to re-think the methods by which we try to make sense of things. An encyclopedia is a synoptic version of the order by which we attempt to see the world. Such books reflect a "scientific" method which has ordered sight especially since the enlightenment but back to the taxonomies of Aristotle. This volume alludes to our desire to place sensation into category but offers, tacitly, other criteria of analogy and relation that undo the habits of too tutored thought. PS A 1st edition is now up to 500-700$.

There are several editions of this very expensive book. The initial printing came out in two volumes in 1981 and is very rare. Then in 1983, a single volume version was released in the USA, Germany and the Netherlands. This was followed by an "augmented edition" in 1993 that was released in Spain and France. Then, in 2006, a much cheaper version was released through Rizzoli. At least two sellers are listing 1993 "First Editions". These may be first editions of that version, but they are not first editions. Indeed, my 1983 copy (which I have no plans to sell) is actually the second version. There aren't many copies of this book available anywhere, but careful comparison shopping might yield much lower prices for these later editions.

Expectations will be served more fully if the purchaser thinks of this as a work of art rather than some unreadable book. The artist's creativity explodes off of every page, and the work's (not book's) consistency in doing this from front to back is truly amazing. Perhaps there are some disturbing images, though none have disturbed me much; but remember that this is about some society far removed and in a universe beyond the reach of our own. If you can afford the price, you'll have something you probably won't want to part with soon.

For more information on the genesis and background about the Codex, along with a simple breakdown of its sections, go to Wikipedia for a very good article.

This man is a visionary, I think he is illustrating our future world after we get done destroying it at the cellular (and smaller) level with nanoparticles, genetic engineering etc... In his book we can see his version of potential unprecedented changes to our world (with artistic license of course)

The book is a piece of conceptual art. You open it and are confronted with what looks to be an profusely illustrated encyclopedia of things you have never before seen. The illustrations are inspired and colorful works done in colored pencil. The text is in a made-up language. You are left to decide what this all means, so it is also a puzzle book.

It's a shame it's out of print. It's worth seeking out a copy.

Whenever you open this book, you will be absorbed by the abundance of creativity and imagination and due to to the cryptic way of comunication you keep on wondering if you will be the first to enter this hermetic world of L.S. Breathtaking.

Ce livre est sans parallèle, égal, ou mot. Il n'y a rien comme lui à l'heure actuelle sur notre planète. Questo libro è senza parallelo, uguale, o la parola. Ci è niente come esso al momento sul nostro pianeta. Este libro está sin paralelo, igual, o palabra. No hay nada como él en el momento en nuestro planeta. ~ : }

I heard about this unusual book several years ago. It was written in 1981 by an Italian architect/artist.

The Codex is phenomenal publication: over 100 pages of hand-written nonsense language; and hundreds of nonsense drawings. The drawings are not totallly meaningless: they have recognizable images (humans, clothing, birds, trees) but drawn in impossible situations and configurations.

The book appears to be an encyclopedia from an earth that evolved in a parallel universe to our own.

The author deserves credit for being so extraordinarily imaginative.

But the book is not really attractive to me. After skimming it once, I had no desire to open it again. Why?

First, the thousands of words of text (in a nonsense alphabet) cant be deciphered. This is not a code: it is just illegible mumbo-jumbo. Random characters spewed out of a random number generator. Interesting to peruse for about 5 minutes, but then what? If he had made it a code that could be deciphered, the book would be so much more involving.

Second, the drawings are a bit disturbing. When I first heard of the book, I imagined that the illustrations would be somewhat comical or thought-provoking. When I finally borrowed the book from a library (too expensive to buy!) I was dissappointed: the illustrations, overall, have a grotesque or repellant nature. Not as extreme as, say, Bosch. But the pictures are filled with mutilations, needles, dissections, masks, cannibalism, deformities (or what are considered deformities on our planet :-). The unerlying sense of the pictures is clearly S&M or bondage: lots of people tied down, or wrapped up, or pierced. The book is certainly not the kind of thing you would show to a child.

In summary: it is an outstanding work of art, and clearly a huge effort went into it. An extremely unique book (I'd recommend it to collectors looking for that unusual book that no one else has :-) But it is very shallow. Compare it with, say, Graeme Base's Eleventh Hour or Kit Williams boot without a name. Those have genuine puzzles hidden in them that can provide enjoyment for weeks on end. And they are suitable for all ages.