The
Voynich MS
Imagine a "Guide" written in an unknown alphabet,
in an unknown language, at an unknown date and place. Could
such a book be read? Could one retrieve the information it
contains, if any? This is not a trivial question and it has
baffled historians and scientists alike for most part of this
century, in the case of a particular medieval document, called "the
Voynich Manuscript". The Voynich MS is named for one Wilfrid
M. Voynich, an American rare-book collector who came across
it in 1912 in the library of the Villa
Mondragone, a Jesuit college in Frascati, near Rome (Italy).
Recognizing the manuscript as an unusual and potentially valuable
artifact, Voynich purchased it and brought it back with him
to America. He circulated photographic copies of the pages
to scholars he thought might have a shot at deciphering it:
paleographers, cryptologists, historians, linguists, philologists,
even astronomers and botanists. However, despite the efforts
of many of them, the book remains unread.
The
manuscript counted at least 116 folios, of which 104 remain.
The folio size is 6 by 9 inches, but some folios are two
or three times that size and are folded. There is one large
composite of six times this size (18 by 18 inches). Both
the illustrations and the script of the manuscript are unique.
As long as the script cannot be read, the illustrations are
the only clue about the nature of the book. According to
these illustrations, the manuscript would appear to be a
scientific book, mostly an illustrated herbal (containing
unidentified and fantastic plants) with some additional sections:
1) an astronomical section (with most zodiac symbols),
2) a biological section (with some pseudo-anatomical drawings
and human figures),
3) a cosmological section (with esoteric geometrical figures),
4) a pharmaceutical section (with vases and parts of "plants")
and
5) a recipes section (mostly short paragraphs).
Maybe
you'll find the solution to this most mysterious linguistic
puzzle in the world?
|Browse
sample pages from the Manuscript|
|The
book about the Manuscript||Voynich
MS website|
|Codex
Seraphinianus||Mysterious
places in Italy|
Un
puzzle linguistique: le manuscrit de Voynich 
Chaque
jour, le bibliothécaire des livres et manuscrits rares
de l'Université de Yale (Connecticut, USA) voit arriver
son lot de farfelus pour lui demander un petit manuscrit, dit "manuscrit
de Voynich". Ce petit livre écrit en un alphabet
mystérieux, avec autant d'images ésotériques,
attire tous les cryptologues et égyptomanes du monde
entier, parce qu'à ce jour, personne n'a réussi à percer
les "secrets" qu'il recèle. C'est un collectionneur
new-yorkais de livres rares, Wilfred M. Voynich, qui découvrit
ce mystérieux bouquin à la bibliothèque
des Jésuites de la Villa
Mondragone, à Frascati
(Italie). Seriez-vous capable de déchiffrer le code
de ce manuscrit? (vous pouvez vous procurer des copies du livre
en consultant le site ci-dessous). Si vous y parvenez, contactez-moi!
|Pages
du Manuscrit de Voynich||Site
du Manuscrit de Voynich|
|Le
livre sur le Manuscrit||Codex
Seraphinianus||Lieux
mystérieux d'Italie|
Lo
strano manoscritto di Voynich 
Nel
1912, un collezionista di libri rari, Wilfrid M. Voynich, acquistò dal
Collegio dei gesuiti di Villa
Mondragone,
a Frascati, un manoscritto medievale di 235 pagine, scritto
in un alfabeto sconosciuto ed in quella che parrebbe essere
una lingua sconosciuta o cifrata. Voynich desiderava far decrittare
il manoscritto e ne fece avere delle copie fotografiche a una
serie di esperti: crittologhi, linguisti, storici... Ma nonostante
tutti gli sforzi, il libro a tutt'oggi non è ancora
stato decifrato. Venne venduto ad un antiquario newyorkese
nel 1961 per la "modica" somma di 24.500 dollari.
Questi valutò il volume a 160.000 dollari, ma non fece
un buon affare, perchè non riuscì a trovare un
compratore. Alla fine lo donò all'università di
Yale, dove è tuttora conservato alla Beinecke Rare Book
Library con il numero di catalogo MS 408. Forse consultando
una delle tantissime copie del manoscritto sareste in grado
di decifrare questo puzzle storico... Sappiate, comunque, che
non siete i soli a provarci!
|Pagine
dal Manoscritto di Voynich||Il
sito del Manoscritto di Voynich|
|Il
libro sul Manoscritto||Codex
Seraphinianus||Luoghi
misteriosi in Italia|
