In our modern world, it can often feel like there are no more mysteries to be found outside the pages of fiction. One book, however, continues to leave historians, codebreakers, and alchemical scientists alike, in the dark. Imagine an ancient manuscript believed to contain magical or scientific knowledge, written by an anonymous author, in a language no one can understand. While it may sound like fantasy, this mystery is all too real within the pages of the Voynich Manuscript.
The Voynich Manuscript is a 250-page codex, currently housed at Yale’s Beinecke Library. Believed to have been written in Central Europe, the Voynich’s parchment has been traced back to the late 15th century, however, its author and contents remain unknown. Some think it is a long-lost language, others a secret cipher, all we know is that the writing—dubbed “Voynichese” by historians—is unlike anything found in any other rare text. Theories on the writing have ranged from enciphered Hebrew to the Manchu language of the Qing dynasty. And while codebreakers and cryptologists have tried their hand at deciphering it, no consensus on what the language is, or what the writing means, has ever been reached.
Its script is not the only thing that makes The Voynich so fascinating. Equally indecipherable are the illustrations. The codex includes strange images of unidentifiable plants, zodiac signs, and nude women bathing in mysterious liquids.
The manuscript itself is a worthy feat of creation. The parchment is estimated to have been made from a minimum of 14 full cow skins. The ink is a combination of oak gall nuts, egg, fruit peels, and wine.
The codex is named for the American-Polish rare books dealer Wilfred M. Voynich, who acquired the book in 1912 under fittingly mysterious circumstances; somehow managing to intercept the book and purchase it from Roman Jesuits as part of a collection being sold to the Vatican in 1903.
Very little is known of what happened to the manuscript from 1670 until Voynich’s acquisition in 1912.
Voynich believed that the work was the product of thirteenth-century Franciscan friar Roger Bacon. Voynich thought that by certifying Bacon as the true author he would increase the value of the manuscript, and recruited amateur cryptologist and professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, William Newbold. However, Voynich and Newbold’s theories were ultimately debunked.
While the contents, author, and purpose of the manuscript remain as elusive today as when Voynich first acquired it, the mystery of the document has continued to enthrall hopeful readers, from a committed community of reddit sleuths to scientists hoping to use AI to finally crack the code.
Either way, The Voynich Manuscript is a testament to not only the painstaking effort gone into historical bookmaking but the power of preservation in unearthing the long-buried secrets of our collective literary history.
For more information visit:
Foley, Jillian, “The Strange Quest to Crack the Voynich Code”, Undark, February 12 2020
Johnson Reed, “The Unread: The Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript”, The New Yorker, July 9 2013
“The Voynich Manuscript”, Beinecke Rare Books & Manuscript Library.
