Since its discovery by Wilfrid Voynich in an Italian monastery in 1912, the Voynich Manuscript has baffled scholars and cryptanalysists with its unidentifiable script and bizarre illustrations. Written in an unknown language or an as yet undecipherable code, this medieval manuscript contains hundreds of illustrations of unknown plants, cosmological charts, and inexplicable scenes of naked “nymphs” bathing in a green liquid that some interpret as a symbolic depiction of human reproduction and the joining of the soul with the body.
Gerry Kennedy and Rob Churchill explore the mystery surrounding the Voynich Manuscript, examining the many existing theories about the possible authors of this work and the information it may contain. They trace the speculative history of the manuscript and reveal those who may be connected to it, including Roger Bacon, John Dee, and the Cathars. With the possibility that it may be a lost alchemical text or other esoteric work, this manuscript remains one of the most intriguing yet enigmatic documents ever to have come to light.
Gerry Kennedy is a freelance writer and has produced a number of BBC Radio 4 programs, including one on the Voynich Manuscript in 2001. Rob Churchill is a professional writer who has written scripts for many production companies, including the BBC and Thames Television. Both authors were consultants for the BBC/Mentorn Films documentary The Voynich Mystery. They live in London.
The Book That Can't Be Read
This Manuscript offers up a challenge—and provides unique symbols leading to the possibility that it's a lost alchemical work.
If you think all languages have been deciphered:
Gerry Kennedy once again takes up the story of his visit to Yale.
The realisation of a fantasy is proverbially fraught; the long-sought-after has a habit of failing to live up to the dream, and, to make things worse, is subject to the fickle vagaries of a first impression. In July 2001, having travelled up from the Big Apple to Yale University to inspect the fabled Voynich manuscript, I was hoping to gain a clear and calm overview of its delights that up until then had been supplied remotely by a computer screen.
At a general level the Voynich Manuscript’s illustrations evince creative and positive life-generating natural forces, whether relating to the heavens or earth. There are few antagonistic images—no blood, lightning, monsters or mythical beasts that haunted the medieval imagination. There is none of the conflict or destructive tendencies that might be generated pictorially where human interaction and social institutions are concerned. For a medieval document it is surprising that there are almost no references to organised religion or the trappings of secular power, or more mundanely to everyday objects—tools, furniture, means of transport, and so on—that might point historically to a way of life.
This creates a sense of otherworldliness and timelessness enhanced by zodiacal drawings of suns, stars, moons and ‘cosmic’ phenomena. Yet this in turn is brought down to earth by the apparent purity, youth and innocence of the naked bathing women undergoing perhaps some esoteric aquatic medical treatment associated with the benefit of the many depicted plants. Are we looking perhaps at some kind of magical herbal treatise that holds contentious secrets for the eyes of only a few?
On NOOK Sample -- The Voynich Manuscript:
The Mysterious Code That Has Defied Interpretation for Centuries
The REVIEW Accommodates Many VOICES!
The Voynich manuscript in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library has baffled book collectors, scientists, and even expert linguists of the US Military Intelligence Service for centuries. But it took collaboration between a Yale library and a team of documentary filmmakers to finally crack one of the document’s mysteries:
New light shed on Voynich mystery.
Thanks for Visiting!!!
Gerry Kennedy and Rob Churchill explore the mystery surrounding the Voynich Manuscript, examining the many existing theories about the possible authors of this work and the information it may contain. They trace the speculative history of the manuscript and reveal those who may be connected to it, including Roger Bacon, John Dee, and the Cathars. With the possibility that it may be a lost alchemical text or other esoteric work, this manuscript remains one of the most intriguing yet enigmatic documents ever to have come to light.
Gerry Kennedy is a freelance writer and has produced a number of BBC Radio 4 programs, including one on the Voynich Manuscript in 2001. Rob Churchill is a professional writer who has written scripts for many production companies, including the BBC and Thames Television. Both authors were consultants for the BBC/Mentorn Films documentary The Voynich Mystery. They live in London.
The Book That Can't Be Read
This Manuscript offers up a challenge—and provides unique symbols leading to the possibility that it's a lost alchemical work.
If you think all languages have been deciphered:
An examination of the many theories surrounding this enigmatic text, apparently written in code
• Reveals the connections between this work and the Cathars, Roger Bacon, and John Dee
• Explains the cryptanalysis methods used in attempts to break the code
• Includes color images from the manuscript juxtaposed with other medieval writings
Since
its discovery in an Italian monastery of 1912, the
Voynich Manuscript has baffled scholars and cryptanalysists with its unidentifiable script and bizarre illustrations.Gerry Kennedy once again takes up the story of his visit to Yale.
The realisation of a fantasy is proverbially fraught; the long-sought-after has a habit of failing to live up to the dream, and, to make things worse, is subject to the fickle vagaries of a first impression. In July 2001, having travelled up from the Big Apple to Yale University to inspect the fabled Voynich manuscript, I was hoping to gain a clear and calm overview of its delights that up until then had been supplied remotely by a computer screen.
At a general level the Voynich Manuscript’s illustrations evince creative and positive life-generating natural forces, whether relating to the heavens or earth. There are few antagonistic images—no blood, lightning, monsters or mythical beasts that haunted the medieval imagination. There is none of the conflict or destructive tendencies that might be generated pictorially where human interaction and social institutions are concerned. For a medieval document it is surprising that there are almost no references to organised religion or the trappings of secular power, or more mundanely to everyday objects—tools, furniture, means of transport, and so on—that might point historically to a way of life.
This creates a sense of otherworldliness and timelessness enhanced by zodiacal drawings of suns, stars, moons and ‘cosmic’ phenomena. Yet this in turn is brought down to earth by the apparent purity, youth and innocence of the naked bathing women undergoing perhaps some esoteric aquatic medical treatment associated with the benefit of the many depicted plants. Are we looking perhaps at some kind of magical herbal treatise that holds contentious secrets for the eyes of only a few?
On NOOK Sample -- The Voynich Manuscript:
 |
| On NOOK Sample |
The REVIEW Accommodates Many VOICES!
The Voynich manuscript in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library has baffled book collectors, scientists, and even expert linguists of the US Military Intelligence Service for centuries. But it took collaboration between a Yale library and a team of documentary filmmakers to finally crack one of the document’s mysteries:
New light shed on Voynich mystery.
Thanks for Visiting!!!
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