The Voynich Ninja

This is Tepenec's own signature (from voynich.nu):

[attachment=4526]

The "p" has this strange x-like shape, and there's the cross bar in "T". But overall looks somewhat different.

The "problem" I have with the "Z" in book number 40 is that it looks inverted horizontally, the upper part of the glypth at least.

I have been looking briefly at czech caligraphy and I can't tell what letter it is, but it does not look like a Z at all. Maybe the writing sytle was different back then. Here is one neo-gothic czech alphabet I found

Sorry, I lost track of this thread back in 2017.

What I thought back then was that the most likely explanation for the various ex librises was that the numbers were all added later, whereas the dates were all added closer to the time of acquisition. This is at least physically testable. :-)

Is there any evidence that would indicate that this is wrong?

(05-07-2020, 06:17 PM)nickpelling Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Sorry, I lost track of this thread back in 2017.

I recommend that you read it thorugh, there've been some inetersting findings.

(05-07-2020, 06:17 PM)nickpelling Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.What I thought back then was that the most likely explanation for the various ex librises was that the numbers were all added later, whereas the dates were all added closer to the time of acquisition. This is at least physically testable. :-)

Is there any evidence that would indicate that this is wrong?

There are differences in style - some N's have two cross-strokes, some have just one. The hands, quiils and inks of th enumberings look corresponding to their respective exlibrises, instead of being uniform for all numbers.

Both are possible: "numbers added all towards or at the end of his life" or "numbers added at the same time as the ex libris". In fact, also a mixture is possible.

In some cases the ink of the ex libris seems to be the same as that of the number but it seem impossible to tell for certain from these images.

These numbers were extremely common in lists and can be found in other unpublished material related to Tepenec.

On the question whether the name near #40 is Tepenec or not, I think it is safe to leave it to the experts, in this case Josef Truhlář. For what it is worth, the 'x' is clearly a 'p'.

I just found an article by Jan Hurych on this very matter: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(05-07-2020, 11:41 PM)Anton Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I just found an article by Jan Hurych on this very matter: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

So, book 40. ex libris reads "z. Tep. Prague"? If that's the case, that explains the weird space we talked before.

Quote:As can be seen, we could not find any resemblance between those two signatures and the one in the VM. What remains to study are the words "Jacobi" and "Prague"...

Also I have been surfing the Czech national library digital catalog from around that time and found some cases of ex libris or notations with "Prague" in it, which made me think it's the same case on book number 40. This was before reading Hurych's analisis.

This one is from a printed book published by a certain Matthäus Pontanus, by the way

For what it's worth, I found a codex (Calepinus Ad librum) which bears the crossed out ex libris from a Barthelemeus Guilhelmus Olo. Pontanus

Quote:"Hunc librum pro domo pauperum dono dedit Barthelemeus Guilhelmus Olo. Pontanus. Boemus. Anno 1609"

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(06-07-2020, 12:03 AM)aStobbart Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.So, book 40. ex libris reads "z. Tep. Prague"? If that's the case, that explains the weird space we talked before.

No, Hurych means the supposed word "Prag" in the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. of the VMS (which is probably not there). There has been the talk in older times that You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. features the word "Prag". Since all these discussions were in place long before I became acquianted with this topic, I can't advise where exactly that word was supposed to be. Presently I think the consensus is that You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. contains words "Jacobi a Tepenecz" and the number (which is uncertain).

(06-07-2020, 12:03 AM)aStobbart Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Also I have been surfing the Czech national library digital catalog from around that time and found some cases of ex libris or notations with "Prague" in it

Thanks for that. This exlibris looks like that of Collegium of the Society of Jesuits in Prague. I can't read the end of it, but looks like the old number is crossed out and the new one is appended.

Haven't you seen any books bearing the exlibris of Horcicky or Wroblicius? That would be of utmost interest.

(06-07-2020, 12:58 AM)aStobbart Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.For what it's worth, I found a codex (Calepinus Ad librum) which bears the crossed out ex libris from a Barthelemeus Guilhelmus Olo. Pontanus

No that's not the Pontanus in question. Guillaume is William in English or Vilem in Czech.

It's of interest when de Tepenec obtained that Knicha Mistra Albertana. Must be no earlier than autumn 1608 (he was not de Tepenec prior to that), but apart from that there's much uncertainty. If he obtained that book after the death of Pontanus (like on a sale maybe), there may be other books out there previously belonging to Pontanus which now feature de Tepenec's exlibris, because he (de Tepenec) would probably obtain several books on such occasion (Pontanus had a large library).