Hello everybody!
I'm thinking about buying a printed copy/facsimile/reproduction of the vms but am unsure of which one to choose. The only one I've been able to find somewhat reliable reviews on is called "le code voynich", and I am curious to learn more about the alternatives.
Will you please post short reviews here? I'm interested in your opinions on, foremost, readability, flaws, price and availability. Please only hands-on reviews - no speculation.
Thanks in advance, Lennart "lelle"
It won't be ready until 2018 but a Spanish company called You are not allowed to view links.
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898 numbered handmade copies will be made - as I have purchased one there are now only 897 left available
I put a bit on my blog here You are not allowed to view links.
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Any reproduction copies "out there" at the moment will be unauthorised and come from the same digital means we have access to, so frankly I'd say save your cash and print out the high quality tiffs made available for free online. Remember that the book is smaller than A4 so you're not going to lose quality.
Thanks for the advice on printing it for myself. However, I would happily pay a reasonable amount of money to have a printed version delivered to my doorstep.
Hi lelle
I have a copy of Le Code Voynich.
The reproductions are nice, and the book is good to have around. To be honest, I think I've never actually read the introductory text lol, (I just assumed it won't say anything that's not on Rene's site!) so I can't say anything about that part... Who knows maybe I'm missing out on vital and exclusive info...
BUT: the pages have been cropped to fit the publishing format so there are bits missing from some of the margins on some folios. It doesn't affect the actual text parts or most f the illustrations, but it is a bit annoying if you're interested in things like the quire numbers or page numbers, etc.
Also the Cancer folio was unavailable for full scan at the time this book was printed, so that folio is only shown as a small, black and white reproduction.
I find that the jasondavies site or the beinecke's are much more useful to really look at images because of the zooming options, and the voynichese site is better to look for text-related stuff because of the highlighting options.
Personally, I rarely use the book anymore, except when my eyes are tired from too much computer use, or to check things that are easier to see book-in-hand than on Jason Davies' site, and that's not a lot of things.
Still, years later, I really don't regret buying it. It's definitely one of the books I'm happy to have in my library.
Hope this quick review was helpful!
The text of "Le Code Voynich" (which is in French) was largely derived from my web site as it was at that time. (The author had asked permission, which I gave as long as they put an acknowledgment, which they did).
Thus, it does not contain much that won't be found at my site.
They kindly sent me a copy of the book
I confirm that in many cases significant parts of the margins have been cropped, which I find regrettable.
Beside the expensive facsimile mentioned by David (I hope he has started saving by now....) Yale is producing its own affordable photofacsimile, which should appear this year still (my best guess).
This won't give you the 'manuscript' idea that many of the home-made facsimiles do, and I doubt very much that the foldouts will be represented as real foldouts.
Thank you for your replies. The book from Yale sounds very interesting. I will look for it by the end of the year if I haven't bought another one by then.
It seems that the book to be published by Yale could be out in November this year, but I am sure that it will be announced more definitely both here and in Nick Pelling's Cipher Mysteries.