San Serriffe | Typographica

On April 1 1977 the British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement in honor of the tenth anniversary of San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean consisting of several semi-colon-shaped islands...

The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement describing the tenth anniversary of the small island of San Serriffe. The island's geography appeared to be named after printing terms. For instance, its two islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its leader was General Pica, and its capital was Bodoni. Articles described the eccentric culture of the island. One strange island custom was the Festival of the Well Made Play, during which islanders would perform the complete cycle of plays by playwright William Douglas-Home in English, Caslon, and Ki-flong (languages of the island). Strangely enough, the islanders did not appear to understand the plays themselves. It was merely certain ritual aspects of the plays that they appreciated, as evidenced by the fact that they would "applaud widely whenever an actor appears wearing a Harris tweed hacking jacket with a centre vent and cavalry twill trousers and a paisley cravat." Adding credibility to the supplement was the fact that many eminent people were quoted in it, referring to their experiences in San Serriffe. Authentic advertisements also accompanied the articles and played into the hoax. For instance, Texaco offered a contest for which the first prize was a two-week trip to Cocobanana Beach in San Serriffe. Kodak also ran an ad in which it said, "If you have a picture of San Serriffe, we'd like to see it." The Guardian reported that its phones rang all day as people called up requesting more information about the island. The success of this hoax was largely responsible for the flood of April Fool's Day jokes that appeared in other papers in succeeding years. At The Guardian itself the island of San Serriffe became a running gag in the years to follow. The island reappeared on April Fool's Day in 1978, 1980 and 1999. Moreover, each time it reappeared the island had changed location. It began in the Indian Ocean, moved to the South China Sea, and ended up in the North Atlantic.

Comments

Cool.

Timing & delivery are everything. I'll pretend you posted this yesterday (when it was at peak relevance).

Dave Bastian | Apr 2, 2003 02:56 PM

i was busy launching huge sites :(

matthew | Apr 2, 2003 03:17 PM

which ones?

jlt | Apr 2, 2003 04:54 PM

Cool indeed. I wish I'd kept my copy of this when it was published. The Guardian (or as Private Eye often refers to it, because of its tendency to typos, The Grauniad) usually runs a Fool's Day spoof; this year's was an article in its Education supplement announcing that Carole Caplin (aromatherapy consultant and spiritual guru to our silly Prime Minister's even sillier wife) is about to be made access regulator to the UK's universities. Not quite in the San Seriffe class.

ANDREW FALL | Apr 3, 2003 12:07 AM

I'm so glad you posted this. I wanted to post this but lost my password. Here's some other info I found re: San Serriffe:

Bird and Bull Press San Serriffe titles
All descriptions from a book search at www.abe.com. The prices vary greatly. Anyone actually seen these? They look like fun.

The booksellers of San Serriffe
Port Clarendon San Serriffe Publishing Company 2001. First edition, limited to 200 numbered copies. Those of you who were impressed by Dr. Bauhaus's earlier book on the Private Presses of San Serriffe will be absolutely shattered by this in-depth survey of the booksellers of San Serriffe. The book has an historical introduction by Dr Bauhaus which is followed by chapters on Hobart Flock of Hoki-Nol Books (hmm!), Ki-flongian Booksellers, Ltd., Grandiloquent Bookshop, Cloacina Books, St. Luke's Paper Mill and Bookshop, Contre Kook Mail Order Books and Exterminator Books. Contains tipped-in photographs, a foldout broadside and three woodcuts by Wesley Bates (including one showing Robert and Mildred Flederbach in front of Hoki-Nol Press Books). The book is accompanied by a prospectus and a letter from Dr. Bachaus to the purchaser of the book talking about the book and enclosing four commemorative stamps from the Republic of San Serriffe inserted in an envelope with a canceled stamp. Binding is 8vo., quarter leather with green leather spine label, slipcase. 89, (10) pages with various leaves with tipped-in plates.

Private Presses of San Serriffe
A bibliographical spoof from Bird & Bull Press. Includes three full-page wood engravings by Wesley Bates, fifteen tipped-in pieces, a fragment of the first book printed in San Serriffe, facsimiles of title-pages, additional text illustrations, and other photos.

San Serriffe: The Commemorative 100 Coronas
Newtown Bird & Bull Press 1988. Including an account of this legendary republic and its connection with the Bird & Bull Press. With a description of similar numismatic rarities and a 30-year checklist of work produced by the Press, 1958-1988. First edition, limited to 350 numbered copies. Full of Henry Morris humor about his mythical kingdom of San Serriffe, a tipped-in numbered stock certificate for 1000 shares of Bird & Bull stock, printed currency of San Serriffe, and even a map of the kingdom. The coin itself is sure to be a numismatic rarity, a beautifully minted proof silver coin of San Serriffe. Also of interest is the chapter on other privately minted coins. Binding is 8vo., quarter morocco with paper-covered sides with a silver coin design on the front cover. Accompanied by a special holder for the silver proof coin; both inserted in a slipcase.

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Also see:

The South-Sea Brithers.
By Hamilton, David. Kilmacolm: Partick Press, 1992. No. 122 of 150 copies bound in quarter-leather, signed by the author. With facsimile bank note, postage stamps and railway ticket in rear pocket. David Hamilton's satirical commentary on the sport's international expansion, The South-Sea Brithers (1992), recounts the history of the Great North Bodoni Railway Company golf club at Port Baskerville, San Serriffe. While San Serriffe cannot be found in any known atlas of the Pacific, Hamilton's humorous tale of the Port Baskerville club members captures the spirit and frustrations of early golfers as they extended their game across a wider world.
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/excat/greens4.html

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But wait! There's more:

Globo Del Ojo - Tamar Valley Group
http://www.ngrail.co.uk/5_globo.htm

This layout based on a spoof in The Grauniad from way back in 1978 is set on the small Central American Island of San Serriffe. The island is supposed to have achieved a similar economic status to Cuba. The use of archaic and badly maintained motive power almost up to the present day had a delightful appeal about it. The main traffic consists of bananas, timber and The Man from Delmonte. It was at first considered to operate in real time, the supposed mid-morning arrival thundering in at half-past three. We would then be able to devote most of the exhibition to enjoying everyone else's layouts. The layout when viewed from above is in the shape of the traditional textbook drawing of an eyeball; hence the cod translation. We run a Shay, two diesels and a cobbled up Porter, with two locomotives controlled separately from a single transmitter. This way one driver can easily operate double headed.

Kristin | Apr 3, 2003 07:18 AM

This is really quaint, when you think about it.

In 1977, before publishing was on everyone's desktop, the editors might reasonably expect that few people would know what 'sans serif' meant and the joke could carry a bit farther.

What would the island need to be named now, to approximate the obscurity then, of 'san seriffe'?

St. Pilcrow? Am. Persand?

Joe VanDerBos | Apr 3, 2003 02:58 PM

St. Ligature...or maybe "the kerned pair isles".
There's a good joke in there somewhere...I know it.

b.king | Apr 3, 2003 05:46 PM

The Guardian is a cool newspaper

Tora | Apr 5, 2003 02:09 AM

I remember seeing the pun (based on the shape of the islands) that San Serriffe was Britain's last semi-colony; was this in the original article? Can anyone trace it?

Martin
(rocek at earthlink dot net)

Martin Rocek | Apr 2, 2005 05:03 PM