The Voynich Ninja

Matches 89 to 92

(22-09-2023, 10:21 PM)Aga Tentakulus Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I don't know what to say to that.
I am not criticising the idea or the work as such.
But I do object to the way it is presented.
What do you expect? Do you want me to sort out the picture salad for you?
The characteristics are not recognisable at a glance. Everything is simply too big.
I have already decided not to follow this work any further.
It's also this kind of work that doesn't get us anywhere, if only because it's not interesting.
But a good example of how not to do it.

I haven't asked you to do anything. I have not found anybody else who has done such an indepth comparison and I am sharing the work that I have done.

On my computer the images are a suitable size. I can't say how they are displayed on other machines.

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Matches 83 to 100

Matches 101 to 107

My primary interest in this task was cross textual comparison. So if two separate drawings are identified as being the same plant then is there are relationship between the text?

Often for a given plant there seems to be:

1) A herbal illustration
2) A botanical root illustration
3) A botanical flower illustration

I then wonder for a given plant if there is a connection between:

1) The Herbal text for that Plant
2) The botanical root label text for that plant
3) The botanical flower label text for that plant

I have been planning some time to finish a spreadsheet that I have been working on to put all of these together with a row for each plant and 3 columns for each type of text.

Obviously some matches are closer than others. One could argue that there is a continuum of similarity. No two drawings are identical.

My process was one of comparing each plant drawing with each and every other plant drawing and then selecting the most similar drawing and then deciding if that drawing was sufficiently similar or not to merit including amongst the matches. I also considered if each drawing stood out as a match or whether there were other equally plausible matches.

I uploaded these drawings here as I thought I ought to share what took me some time and effort and what I haven't seen anyone else provide.(If you know of a more comprehensive comparison than this then do let me know as I haven't seen one.)

Certainly, if anyone wants to help complete the spreadsheet they are welcome to, if not, then such is life. Otherwise when I find the time I daresay that I will do it myself.

I think one point of distinction is the degree of accuracy of the author/artist. The question is whether in certain instances two drawings were intended to be drawings of the same plant, but look somewhat different due to lack of care on the author/artist's behalf. How meticulous was the author/artist in drawing the various plants and how sloppy were they? I am inclined to think that they weren't that careful. Did they refer back to their other illustrations much or did they draw from memory?

I think this is an interesting project and I would like to see the spreadsheet when it is ready to share.

I saw Aga's comments and I had the same issue with the image size. Possibly because I am on an ultrabook and have a smaller screen size, I have to view this site at 125% zoom, which of course makes a lot of large size images jolly green giant supersized. Each person's screen size, screen resolution and view of this site and the images will be different so I think it might be difficult for Mark to accommodate everyone. But I ran a test to see if I could help.

Below I have inserted the first two images Mark posted in this thread. I manipulated them down to roughly a 3-inch height and added white space at the bottom of each so I could add the folio number as a label. If this helps, I'd be happy to assist Mark with all the images, posting them in this thread in the order Mark presented them with each set of matching images grouped together in separate posts. I may need some help making sure I group them correctly according to Mark's research. Just let me know and also provide feedback as to whether the images and labels are just right or need to be larger and, if so, by how much. It may take me some time so bear with me. 

[attachment=7692]  [attachment=7693]

If there is a more comprehensive comparison out there, I don't think I've seen it yet but I'll be on the lookout for one. However, I know others have commented on how plants in the herbal section match or at least seem to match plants in other sections. I think Mark is right that the artist was more careful with some images than with others or drew some from memory. I also think this was someone's loose personal notes completed over a lifetime (or two), leading to such differences. Some comparable images appear as though two different artists were involved. In any case, if we can view presumed comparable images side-by-side, we may be able to add consensus as to whether they match or, where they don't, which ones will instead, making it likely any accompanying text also relates. At the very least, we could get some fresh insight or a different perspective out of this.

You found a lot of good matches, but some are clearly false. This could be an issue, though I guess it depends on to what extent false positives may distort your research.

[attachment=7694]

In one example, it is clear that it is the same root. I think we can even speak of the same plant here.

[attachment=7695]

I would describe this example as not comparable.
On one side there is a root with three fingers, on the other side there are three roots of plants forming a group. I do not see any correspondence here.

Yeah that's a good example of a clear match and a clear mismatch. My intuition would be to work with a smaller subset of the most clear couples.