Codex Seraphinianus

Series entitled “The Marks of Man”
1981

The Codex Seraphinianus may be described as a surrealist encyclopaedia in which various themes from biology, mineralogy and botanics to fashion, entertainment and architecture are loosely reinterpreted as mere products of imagination. The use of Latin in the title evokes specifically the miniature-like works of architect Luigi Serafini realised for Franco Maria Ricci’s publications in the 1970s. In this case, it is necessary to draw attention to the accompanying words that follow the illustrations: graphic characters made up by imaginative motives as a result of the creative mind of the artist, “an elegant calligraphy, that eludes as soon as we are about to disclose its meanings” (I. Calvino). The Codex was first published in 1981, simultaneously to Ricci’s two-issues publication of “The Signs of Man”