Codex Seraphinianus
TL;DR — An encyclopedia of an imaginary world, written entirely in an undeciphered invented script.
/ubu editions, 2011 (Visual Writing 031).
Serafini’s 1981 work is an illustrated encyclopedia of a world that does not exist, written throughout in an invented script that has never been deciphered — because, Serafini has said, it means nothing. The writing is asemic; the reader is placed in the position of a child looking at text before literacy.
The illustrations do the work: a taxonomy, physics and technology that are internally consistent and entirely alien.
One of the strangest books ever printed, and a genuine argument about how much meaning is carried by form alone. Pairs with Lexicon for New Ithkuil, version 1.0 — one language engineered for maximum precision, one for none at all.
Where this came from
373 pages. A copy is archived locally against link rot; the header links the original source.