Codex Seraphinianus: History’s Most Bizarre and Beautiful Encyclopedia, Brought Back to Life |

“You see what you want to see. You might think it’s speaking to you, but it’s just your imagination.”



: In 1976, Italian artist, architect, and designer Luigi Serafini, only 27 at the time, set out to create an elaborate encyclopedia of imaginary objects and creatures that fell somewhere between Edward Gorey’s cryptic alphabets, Albertus Seba’s cabinet of curiosities, the book of surrealist games, and Alice in Wonderland. What’s more, it wasn’t written in any ordinary language but in an unintelligible alphabet that appeared to be a conlang — an undertaking so complex it constitutes one of the highest feats of cryptography.

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 Codex Seraphinianus: History’s Most Bizarre and Beautiful Encyclopedia, Brought Back to Life | Brain Pickings