Voynich manuscript
The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex, hand-written in an unknown script referred to as 'Voynichese.' The vellum on which it is written has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438). Stylistic analysis has indicated the manuscript may have been composed in Italy during the Italian Renaissance. While the origins, authorship, and purpose of the manuscript are still debated, hypotheses range from a script for a natural language or constructed language, an unread code, cypher, or other form of cryptography, or perhaps a hoax, reference work (i.e. folkloric index or compendium), or work of fiction (e.g. science fantasy or mythopoeia, metafiction, speculative fiction) currently lacking the translation(s) and context needed to both properly entertain or eliminate any of these possibilities.
| Voynich manuscript | |
|---|---|
| Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library | |
A floral illustration on page 32 | |
| Also known as | Beinecke MS 408 |
| Type | codex |
| Date | unknown parchment dated to early 15th century |
| Place of origin | unknown possibly Italy |
| Language(s) | unknown possibly natural or constructed language a very small number of words were found in Latin and High German |
| Author(s) | unknown suggested: Roger Bacon, Wilfrid Voynich himself, Jakub of Tepenec, Athanasius Kircher, Raphael Mnishovsky, Antonio Averlino Filarete, Cornelis Drebbel, Anthony Ascham etc. |
| Material | vellum |
| Size | ≈ 23.5 cm × 16.2 cm × 5 cm (9.3 in × 6.4 in × 2.0 in) |
| Format | one column in the page body, with slightly indented right margin and with paragraph divisions, and often with stars in the left margin; the rest of the manuscript appears in the form of graphics (i.e. diagrams or markings for certain parts related to illustrations), containing some foldable parts |
| Condition | partially damaged and incomplete; 240 out of 272 pages found (≈ 88%) (i.e. 18 out of 20 quires found) The smallest estimated number is 272 pages (i.e. 20 quires), and it contains > 170,000 characters |
| Script | unknown possibly an invented script very small number of words found in Latin script |
| Contents | herbal, astronomical, balneological, cosmological and pharmaceutical sections + section with recipes |
| Illumination(s) | colour ink, a bit crude, was used for painting the figures, probably later than the time of creation of the text and the outlines themselves |
| Exemplar(s) | two manuscript copies which Baresch sent twice to Kircher in Rome |
| Previously kept | ? Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor → Jakub of Tepenec → Georg Baresch Athanasius Kircher (copies) → Jan Marek Marci (Joannes Marcus Marci) → rector of Charles University in Prague → Athanasius Kircher → Pieter Jan Beckx → Wilfrid Voynich → Ethel Voynich → Anne Nill → Hans Peter Kraus → Yale |
| Discovered | earliest information about its existence comes from a letter that was found inside the covers of the manuscript—the letter was written in either 1665 or 1666 |
| Accession | MS 408 |
The manuscript consists of around 240 pages, but there is evidence that pages are missing. The text is written from left to right, and some pages are foldable sheets of varying sizes. Most of the pages have fantastical illustrations and diagrams, some crudely coloured, with sections of the manuscript showing people, fictitious plants, astrological symbols, etc. The manuscript is named after Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish book dealer who purchased it in 1912. Since 1969, it has been held in Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. In 2020, Yale University published the manuscript online in its entirety in their digital library.
The Voynich manuscript has been studied by both professional and amateur cryptographers, including American and British codebreakers from both World War I and World War II. Codebreakers Prescott Currier, William Friedman, Elizebeth Friedman, and John Tiltman were unsuccessful.
The manuscript has never been demonstrably deciphered, and none of the proposed hypotheses have been independently verified. The mystery of its meaning and origin has excited speculation and provoked study.