June 26, 2010

Images from the Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich Manuscript is one of my favorite historical mysteries and one that I plan to write about soon in more detail, but for now I present some (new to me) digitized images from this most obscure of books.








For more see the Wikimedia Commons page, which seems to contain the complete original text.

1 comment:

eero raunio said...

I got introduced to Voynich Manuscript just recently, by a book (which is still half unread). I downloaded the full reproduction PDF and leafed it through. Contrary to the usual fascination of decoding the script, I just looked the pictorial story. We do not have any opportunity to decode a text without knowing what it tells (and with which language). I think the unravelling of Voynich begins from pictorial -- artistic -- analysis of it's symbology.

So, let us look how the visual story goes, and after that, compare it's symbols to symbology and thinking of manuscript's age of creation.

I am just in the beginning, having only leafed MS through. So, I just leave my 5¢ worth here. My first impression is about feminine forms representing life force in plants (which are symbolic and invented) and in heavens; some sort of unified life theory, maybe written in code for protection from ecclesistical authorities.

Also, I am just an amateur, a graphic designer.