Voynich Manuscript

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A fifteenth-century codex (“A manuscript volume, complete or fragmentary, as of a classic work or the sacred Scriptures”), discovered in 1912 by rare books dealer (and revolutionary!) Wilfrid Voynich, written in an unknown script, by an unknown author, its purpose no clearer today than when first came to light…how could we NOT be interested in it since we first heard of it!

The Voynich Manuscript, housed in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale, is an unsolved mystery that those so inclined are still trying to solve.

Quite a bit is known regarding Voynich ownership over the centuries (seriously, centuries), but almost nothing is understood when it comes to its content, but the following three books have made great inroads in showing/explaining the book itself.

Echo Point Books & Media

For those looking for a printed photographic reproduction of all of the images of the original manuscript, the book published by Echo Point Books & Media is an excellent one. The value of this book is that all of the images are available in a single volume.

We found it convenient for quick reference, comparing and reviewing ideas, and just flipping through for dilettante-ic pleasure. 

The book’s slightest of drawbacks is that the images are not 1:1 copies of the original. Still, the images and printing are very, very high quality and a lot of details are discernible.

If/when something interesting catches your eye in the Echo Point publication and you want a closer examination, you can refer to the .pdf files of the high-resolutions scans or the online interactive tool from Yale.

Watkins Publishing

Readers looking to learn more about what is known about the Voynich Manuscript itself will want to have The Voynich Manuscript: The World’s Most Mysterious and Esoteric Codex from Watkins Publishing of London. Their publication is divided into roughly three sections: a foreword by Dr. Stephen Skinner on the supposed origin of the mysterious book; an introduction by Dr. Rafal T. Prinke and Dr. René Zandbergen that dives into detail about the history and content of the Manuscript; and finally the book itself.

The actual manuscript has five distinct sections:

• herbal,
• astrological/astronomical,
• women bathing (not a typo),
• pharmacological, and
• textual.

The photographic reproductions of the original manuscript are high quality and shown in context with close-up images of selected sections.

Yale University Press

The Voynich Manuscript has been held in Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library since 1969, and it took until 2016 for the Yale University Press to publish the first authorized copy of the mysterious, centuries-old puzzle. The essays that accompany the manuscript detail what has been learned about about the codex from various perspectives (cryptographic, forensic, historical). Sadly, as with the other two books, this one provided few answers to the enigmatic work.

• 268 color illustrations
• Foldouts

Two of the qualities we liked far better with the Yale book were:

• the image colors were much more richly saturated, and
• it was the only book with actual full-size fold-outs of the images.

Another plus for the Yale publication is the inclusion of discussions and commentaries about the physical aspects of the manuscript. While this may not be of interest to people intrigued with the content alone, we found it fascinating from a maker’s perspective.

Now that we‘ve started our own journey down the Voynich rabbit hole path, we are not sure where it will lead.  However, we hope to find our way out at some point and see you at the other end!

Links to items mentioned:

• Echo Point Books & Media: The Voynich Manuscript- Full Color Photographic Edition
• Watkins Publishing: The World’ Most Mysterious and Esoteric Codex
• Yale University Press: The Voynich Manuscript Hardcover- Illustrated edition