CODEX SERAPHINIANUS - the weirdest book in the world.

[yellowish haze]

Yes, "the weirdest book in the world". This is at least how this book is described by some on the internet. I've never heard about it myself before, but couldn't think of better place to discuss it than TLO.

Here some information about it from Wikipedia:

Quote

The Codex Seraphinianus is a book written and illustrated by the Italian artist, architect and industrial designer Luigi Serafini during thirty months, from 1976 to 1978.[1] The book is approximately 360 pages long (depending on edition), and appears to be a visual encyclopedia of an unknown world, written in one of its languages, a thus-far undeciphered alphabetic writing. Structure The Codex is divided into eleven chapters, partitioned into two sections. The first section appears to describe the natural world, dealing with flora, fauna, and physics. The second deals with the humanities, the various aspects of human life: clothing, history, cuisine, architecture and so on. Each chapter seems to treat a general encyclopedic topic. The topics of each separate chapter are as follows[citation needed]: * The first chapter describes many alien types of flora: strange flowers, trees that uproot themselves and migrate, etc. * The second chapter is devoted to the fauna of this alien world, depicting many animals that are surreal variations of the horse, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, birds, etc. * The third chapter deals with what seems to be a separate kingdom of odd bipedal creatures, apparently engineered for various purposes. * The fourth chapter deals with something that seems to be physics and chemistry, and is by far the most abstract and enigmatic. * The fifth chapter deals with bizarre machines and vehicles. * The sixth chapter explores the general humanities: biology, sexuality, various aboriginal peoples, and even shows examples of plant life and tools (such as pens and wrenches) grafted directly into the human body. * The seventh chapter is historical. It shows many people (some only vaguely human) of unknown significance, giving their times of birth and death. It also depicts many scenes of historical (and possibly religious) significance. Also included are examples of burial and funereal customs. * The eighth chapter depicts the history of the Codex's alien writing system. * The ninth chapter deals with food, dining practices, and clothing. * The tenth chapter describes bizarre games (including playing cards and board games) and athletic sports. * The eleventh chapter is devoted entirely to architecture. [edit] Graphics The illustrations are often surreal parodies of things in our world: bleeding fruit; a plant that grows into roughly the shape of a chair and is subsequently made into one; a lovemaking couple that metamorphoses into a crocodile; etc. Others depict odd, apparently senseless machines, often with a fragile appearance, kept together by tiny filaments. There are also illustrations readily recognizable, as maps or human faces. On the other hand, especially in the "physics" chapter, many images look almost completely abstract. Practically all figures are brightly coloured and rich in detail. [edit] Writing system The writing system (possibly a false writing system) appears modelled on ordinary Western-style writing systems (left-to-right writing in rows; an alphabet with uppercase and lowercase letters, some of which double as numerals) but is much more curvilinear, not unlike cursive Georgian in appearance. Some letters appear only at the beginning or at the end of words, a feature shared with Semitic writing systems. The language of the codex has defied complete analysis by linguists for decades. The number system used for numbering the pages, however, has been cracked (apparently independently) by Allan C. Wechsler and Bulgarian linguist Ivan Derzhanski, among others. It is a variation of base 21..

And here are some illustrations:

	TLO THOMAS LIGOTTI ONLINE

[MorganScorpion]

Not nearly as interesting as the Voynich manuscript.

[Uitarii]

Codex has been re-released with 2 new chapters. Also released is a an additional booklet by Serafini called the Decodex where he gives some background. The "text" per Serafini is "the dream of many other types of script" written in a "felicitous automatism that the surrealists would have appreciated". He also reveals the true author of the book and considers himself a mere conduit. His white cat.

On the indecipherable I note that there has been a recent botanical study that further points to an American origin of the Voynich manuscript and is possibly written in a native American language. Not a new theory but reinforces an existing one.

http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbalgram...55898da3670c6f

[Laurent Barabba]

a good review by Carl Abrahamsson:
http://carlabrahamsson.blogspot.fr/2...-nonsense.html