The Voynich Ninja

Hello all,

I've been working on a thesis regarding the provenance of the VM and have been paying special attention to the New World hypothesis as I'm fortunate to live very close to one of the best New Spain/Aztec manuscript collections in the country (U.S). Although skeptical (as I am with any claimed origin), I'd like to thoroughly review the subject and have been focusing on a paleographic analysis against codecies of colonial New Spain and indigenous documents. One of the contentions made in Janick and Tucker's 2018 "Unraveling the Voynich Codex" is that the signature of their purposed author, Gaspar de Torres, can be found concealed at the top of f1v. 

See here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. 

I was curious about this claim and have a some experience with Photoshop so I decided to do my best to reduce as much of the concealing ink as I could. I'd like to share my results with this community and gather some feedback. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
For the sake of duplication, I completed this using Gimp 2.8.16. I used the original image on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and processed it with Unsharp-Mask, followed by Despeckle and then adjusted the contrast. Although I do believe there's a word or name there, I don't believe it to be Gaspar de Torres. It appears to me that the capitalized "G" and "T" Janick and Tucker point out are simply part of the overlying ink. The word/name that I see is "D i o/g d v/y o/? t a l" followed by "G a b/l/r/ e/a s y. Interesting to note is that the second word appears to be larger and with heavier ink on the what appears to be the "G". This could simply be a result of the author re-inking their quill, or perhaps something else entirely. I'm not sure.

I'd like to know your thoughts on this. It's entirely possible that there's nothing there and that I simply rorschach tested myself into seeing something. I've also considered applying this method to other areas of the manuscript and wonder if it's worth pursuing. I've already spent hours teasing these words out of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and need to move on to other parts of my research, so I hoped others here may be interested in pursuing this further. 

Regards,
J.R Moore

I think there's something in there, but I can't make out what it is. I've tried many times.

If I simply mark the parts that seem more obviously to be lines rather than blobby paint, it doesn't add up to anything. Here's one attempt (I have many) to mark the most obvious "liney" parts that look like they MIGHT be drawn with a pen rather than a brush:

[attachment=2757]

Hi J.R, and welcome to the forum!

Honestly, in the image that you attach, I can't discern anything at all.

If there is something, it would be difficult to unveil, because it's all painted over with the same ink.

I played with the tone curve today, and one thing I can say fairly certainly is that there is kinda horizontal cross, like in the flags of Norway or Denmark. Whether this was the way for pen strokes to be put down to cross something out - remains unknown, of course.

(03-04-2019, 09:16 PM)Anton Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I played with the tone curve today, and one thing I can say fairly certainly is that there is kinda horizontal cross, like in the flags of Norway or Denmark. Whether this was the way for pen strokes to be put down to cross something out - remains unknown, of course.

That's very interesting. Could you point it out?

You mean that darker part done with the paint, Anton? Is it kind of large and slightly to the left of middle?

(04-04-2019, 12:27 AM)J.R Moore Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(03-04-2019, 09:16 PM)Anton Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I played with the tone curve today, and one thing I can say fairly certainly is that there is kinda horizontal cross, like in the flags of Norway or Denmark. Whether this was the way for pen strokes to be put down to cross something out - remains unknown, of course.

That's very interesting. Could you point it out?

I can kind of see it now that it has been mentioned. The horizontal part is just underneath JKP's writing, (i am just looking at that pic as example) the vertical part is kind of centred on the second little character he made, to the left of center. The vertical part almost looks like it has a lighter stripe down the middle of it, and then it spills down into the next layer of the plant drawing.

Although it does seem like there are some marks there, (i think i see an eva s in there between and below JKP's letters) if it were writing it would be tiny, seems like it would be smaller than the text.

(04-04-2019, 04:25 AM)Linda Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(04-04-2019, 12:27 AM)J.R Moore Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(03-04-2019, 09:16 PM)Anton Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I played with the tone curve today, and one thing I can say fairly certainly is that there is kinda horizontal cross, like in the flags of Norway or Denmark. Whether this was the way for pen strokes to be put down to cross something out - remains unknown, of course.

That's very interesting. Could you point it out?

Although it does seem like there are some marks there, (i think i see an eva s in there between and below JKP's letters) if it were writing it would be tiny, seems like it would be smaller than the text.

Those marks are more visible in my photoshop results at the top of the thread. Can you make anything out?

In your Photoshop sample, it looks like there might be a word running at an upward angle, but I really can't make out anything at all.

If someone FORCED me to guess. I'd say it looks vaguely like p??wtatal but I really wouldn't bet a penny on any of it.

I suspect most people would agree that recognizing an author's signature in this thing, like apparently J&T do, requires a great imagination. And some ideas about what you *want* it to be. But that's what the Voynich theorist is all about.