Carl Jung's The Red Book: Visionary Art and Mystical Manuscript

Carl Jung's Liber Novus, known as The Red Book, was published in a complete English translation by Norton in 2009 (facsimile) and 2012 (reader's edition). The illuminated manuscript, kept from 1913 to 1930 with sporadic additions until 1961, features ornate Gothic script and elaborate paintings. Jung refused to see himself as an artist, yet his work was exhibited in museums and served as the nucleus of the 'Encyclopedic Palace' survey at the 2013 Venice Biennale. Scholar Sonu Shamdasani calls it Jung's most important work, taking three years to convince Jung's family to release it from a Swiss vault and 13 more to translate. The only portion published in Jung's lifetime was 'The Seven Sermons of the Dead,' privately printed in 1916 and given to select friends. Jung composed it in 1913 during Gnostic studies, transcribing visions from notebooks called the 'Black Books.' The text blends Gnostic theology and occult terms like 'pleroma' and the demigod Abraxas. Jung's illustrations draw on Persian miniature painting and East Asian calligraphy. The article suggests Jung may be considered an eccentric artist on par with great illuminators and visionary mystic poet-painters.