Seth at 05:39, 12 February 2009

2009-02-12T05:39:39Z

Seth at 19:46, 15 September 2008

2008-09-15T19:46:03Z

New page

I aim to typeset Luigi Serafini's Codex Serafinianus with the help of
a tool that makes it cheap and easy for printers to cast their own
type.

===The goals of this project:===
*Celebrate the physical process of typesetting
*Develop a typographer's relationship with the presently
incomprehensible Codex Serafinianus
*Introduce the self replicating three dimensional printer as a tool
for printers and book artists

===The Deal/Spiel===
It is no unusual feeling to hear of a book and be overcome with the
need to read it. And today's world continues to make it easier to
satisfy that need. But there are some books that Amazon will never
sell, like the Necronomicon, the Encyclopedia Galactica, Julian
Carax's Shadow of the Wind and Pierre Menard's Don Quixote. We were
introduced to these books because they were plot elements in works of
fiction. We will never read these books, no matter our desire, and
nobody ever has or ever will ever read any of them. These books are
lost and we must be content to read them vicariously through fictional
people.

But what if there were an exception, a fictional book that exists but
is tangible only literally? What would it mean to explore such a
book, and what satisfaction could come? Luigi Serafini's Codex
Serafinianus, only a few years older than me, is such a book. An
unnatural history written in an unknown alphabet, the Codex has vexed
hobbyist and professional cryptographers alike. Only its page
numbering system has been cracked. As long as it goes untranslated it
remains unreadable, and the Codex Serafinianus remains a fictional
work.

I have felt the overwhelming desire to read too many fictional books.
If it is possible for me to know even one, I will not hesitate to do
so. And as a printer, I know that there is no better way to develop a
relationship with a book than to typeset it. The process of
typesetting is a meditation and an exploration. The meditative aspect
of typesetting is central to this project. And though no foundry
casts the alphabet of the Codex, today's world has provided a tool
that will allow me to literally print my own type. This tool is
called the "reprap", a contraction of "self replicating rapid
prototyper". This machine can print %60 of its own parts, in addition
to any other three dimensional object smaller than its own nine inch
bed. It works by depositing successive layers of plastic according to
the specifications of a computer model of the desired object. Its
ability to print itself makes it incredibly cheap and accessible to
anyone. Its ability to print any other 3-D object makes it useful
beyond what anyone can presently conceive. With reprap and a
computer, I will be able to design faces for the language of the Codex
and print fonts of them. With a complete case of home-cast type, I
will be able to set the Codex Serafinianus and do the impossible: I
will intimately know one fictional book.

===About Me:===
I am a printer and book artist about to start doctoral work in
informatics and cognitive science at the University of Indiana, doing
analytic work on models of use in the study of mind. I participate
passionately in all facets of the book arts, from writing through
printing to publishing. My current preoccupation in this vast field
of inquiry is typography and typesetting.

===Links:===
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Seraphinianus
http://www.amazon.com/Codex-serafinianus/dp/8821600262 (notably
empty. "Latin"?)
http://reprap.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_books
http://worldwideweb.unconventionallylonguniformresourcelocator.com
(Personal website)

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		+	==Current State==
		+	[[Image:Portfolio 4.jpg]]

Codex Project - Revision history

Seth at 05:39, 12 February 2009

Seth at 19:46, 15 September 2008