Voynich manuscript: Difference between revisions

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Over its recorded existence, the Voynich manuscript has been the object of intense study by many professional and amateur [[cryptographer]]s — including some top American and British [[codebreaker]]s of [[World War II]] fame — who all failed to decipher a single word. This string of failures has turned the Voynich manuscript into the [[Holy Grail]] of [[history of cryptography|historical cryptology]], but it has also given weight to the theory that the book is simply an elaborate [[hoax]] — a meaningless sequence of arbitrary symbols.

The book is named after the Polish-American book dealer [[Wilfrid M. Voynich]], who acquired it in [[1912]]. As of [[2005]], the Voynich manuscript is item MS 408 in the [[Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library|Beinecke Rare Book Library]] of [[Yale University]]. The first facsimile edition was published in [[2005]]<ref>''Le Code Voynich'', the whole manuscript published with a short presentation in French, ed. Jean-Claude Gawsewitch, ([[2005]]) ISBN {{2350130223.</ref|facsimile}}>.

==Description==

By current estimates, the book originally had 272 pages in 17 quires of 16 pages each {{<ref|quires}}>William Poundstone, ''Labyrinths of Reason: Paradox, Puzzles, and the Frailty of Knowledge'' ISBN 0-385-24271-9, p. 194.
</ref>. Only about 240 [[vellum parchment|vellum]] pages remain today, and gaps in the page numbering (which seems to be later than the text) indicate that several pages were already missing by the time that Voynich acquired it. A [[quill| quill pen]] was used for the text and figure outlines, and colored paint was applied (somewhat crudely) to the figures, possibly at a later date.

===Illustrations===

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[[Image:f78r.jpg|thumb|right|The illustrations in the "biological" section are linked by a network of pipes.]]

The history of the manuscript is still full of gaps, especially in its earliest part (see <ref>[http://www.voynich.nu/history.html thisVoynick siteMS - Long tour: Known history of the manuscript]</ref> for details). Since the manuscript's alphabet does not resemble any known script, and the text is still undeciphered, the only useful evidence as to the book's age and origin are the illustrations&mdash; — especially the dress and hairstyles of the human figures, and a couple of castles that are seen in the diagrams. They are all characteristically European, and based on that evidence most experts assign the book to dates between [[1450]] and [[1520]]. This estimate is supported by other secondary clues.

The earliest confirmed owner of the manuscript was a certain Georg Baresch, an obscure [[alchemy|alchemist]] who lived in [[Prague]] in the early [[17th century]]. Baresch apparently was just as puzzled as we are today about this "[[Sphinx|Sphynx]]" that had been "taking up space uselessly in his library" for many years. On learning that [[Athanasius Kircher]], a [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] scholar from the [[Collegio Romano]], had published a [[Coptic language|Coptic]] ([[Ethiopian]]) dictionary and "deciphered" the [[Egyptian hieroglyph]]s, he sent a sample copy of the script to Kircher in [[Rome]] (twice), asking for clues. His [[1639]] letter to Kircher, which was recently located by [[Rene Zandbergen]], is the earliest mention of the manuscript that has been found so far.

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==References==

===Articles===

#* Manly, John Mathews (1921), "The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World: Did Roger Bacon Write It and Has the Key Been Found?", ''Harper's Monthly Magazine'' '''143''', pp.186-197.

#* Manly, John Matthews (1931), "Roger Bacon and the Voynich MS". ''Speculum'' '''6''' (3), pp.345-391.

#* McKenna, Terence, "The ''Voynich Manuscript''", in his ''The Archaic Revival'' (HarperSanFrancisco, 1991), pp.172-184.

===Books===

<references/>

#{{note|facsimile}} ''Le Code Voynich'', the whole manuscript published with a short presentation in French, ed. Jean-Claude Gawsewitch, ([[2005]]) ISBN 2350130223.

#* Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone, ''The Friar and the Cipher: Roger Bacon and the Unsolved Mystery of the Most Unusual Manuscript in the World'' ([[2005]]) ISBN 0767914732.

#* Genny Kennedy, Rob Churchill, ''The Voynich Manuscript'' ([[2004]]) ISBN 075285996X.

#* James E. Finn, ''Pandora's Hope: Humanity's Call to Adventure : A Short and To-the-Point Essential Guide to the End of the World'' ([[2004]]) ISBN 1-4137-3261-5.

#* Mario M. Perez-Ruiz, ''El Manuscrito Voynich'', Oceano Ambar ([[2003]]) ISBN 8475562167.

#* John Stojko, ''Letters to God's Eye'' ([[1978]]) ISBN 0533041813.

#* Robert S. Brumbaugh, ''The Most Mysterious Manuscript: The Voynich 'Roger Bacon' Cipher Manuscript'' ([[1978]]).

#* M. E. D'Imperio, ''The Voynich Manuscript: An Elegant Enigma''. [[National Security Agency]]/Central Security Service ([[1978]]) ISBN 0894120387.

#* Leo Levitov, ''Solution of the Voynich Manuscript: A liturgical Manual for the Endura Rite of the Cathari Heresy, the Cult of Isis'', Aegean Park Press ([[1987]]) ISBN 0-89412-148-0.

#* William Romaine Newbold, ''The Cipher of Roger Bacon'', University of Pennsylvania Press ([[1928]]).

#{{note|quires}} William Poundstone, ''Labyrinths of Reason: Paradox, Puzzles, and the Frailty of Knowledge'' ISBN 0-385-24271-9, p. 194.

===External links===

{{wikibookspar||The Voynich Manuscript}}

* [http://webtext.library.yale.edu/beinflat/pre1600.ms408.htm Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library description of the Voynich manuscript (catalog item MS 408)]

* [http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/dl_crosscollex/callnumSRCHXC.asp?callnum=MS_408 Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library gallery of high resolution digital scans of the Voynich manuscript]

* [http://www.voynich.nu/index.html Voynich.nu: The Voynich Manuscript]

* [http://voynich.naobum.de/ Dr. Vladimir Sazonov's Voynich manuscript analysis site]

*{{ODP | path=Science/Anomalies_and_Alternative_Science/Voynich_Manuscript/ | name=Voynich Manuscript}}

* [http://www.nature.com/nsu/031215/031215-5.html ''Nature'' news article: World's most mysterious book may be a hoax]

* [http://www.dcc.unicamp.br/~stolfi/voynich/ Jorge Stolfi's Voynich Manuscript stuff]

* [http://www.ic.unicamp.br/~stolfi/voynich/mirror/reeds/bib.html Bibliography of Voynich manuscript related works]

* [http://www.rec-puzzles.org/sol.pl/cryptology/Voynich Suggested solution to the manuscript]

* [http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/cs/staff/g.rugg/voynich/ Replicating the Voynich Manuscript]

* [http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/voynich.html The Voynich Manuscript] survey by [[John Baez]]

* [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=0000E3AA-70E1-10CF-AD1983414B7F0000 ''Scientific American'': The Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript]

* [http://mckenna.psychedelic-library.org/terence%20mckenna%20-%20VoynichManuscript%20rc.mp3 Terence McKenna lecture on the manuscript] ([[MP3]] 41:54mins)

* [http://www.crystalinks.com/voynich.html General description and pictures from book]

* [http://www.meta-religion.com/Esoterism/Alchemy/the_voynich_manuscript.htm Meta-Religion page on the Voynich Manuscript]

* [http://www.necfiles.org/voynich.htm Association between the Voynich Manuscript and the Necronomicon]

* [http://nabataea.net/vhistory.html List of owners of the Voynich Manuscript]

* [http://voynich.net/ Voynich Manuscript Mailing List]

* [http://themediadesk.com/newfiles3/ms408.htm A look at what it is and what it is not.]

[[Category:Illuminated manuscripts]]