The Voynich Ninja

I believe I have found a text whose handwriting is compatible with that of the author of the Voynich Manuscript. This text is historically consistent with the Voynich period. It contains information about the author’s name, the city he was associated with, and even the school where he studied. In addition, the marginal notes in the book include remarks that appear to explain the underlying logic by which the Voynich manuscript was written.

How can I compare this handwriting with the Voynich text in a scientific and reliable way? Could you recommend a specialist or expert in this field?

Hi,

Here's a relatively fresh thread that I think discusses in detail how to match handwriting: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

I'm not sure handwriting by itself is a strong enough indication of the authorship, I think there were many popular styless of handwriting shared by many people in various localities and time periods.

First of all, thank you for your reply. This forumต is genuinely impressive. Discussions here are consistently detailed, careful, and serious, which is truly admirable.
The text I have identified is not just another manuscript from the same period. I have several concrete reasons to believe that it was written by the same hand. 

Because the Voynich text uses its own autonomous writing system and does not directly reproduce Latin letters, direct comparison is inherently difficult. For this reason, I believe the partially Latin colophon on the final page is a far more suitable basis for paleographic comparison.

I think it would be highly valuable for a specialist to compare the texts I have found, since any meaningful match could help resolve a number of long-standing uncertainties.

Koen Gheuens made this video on the subject and moderates this forum

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If you post here, he can give you valuable feedback

Welcome to the forum! There are several people here who could help (including me), but it depends what you want to compare. Do you somehow want to compare Latin script to Voynichese script? Or are you talking about the Voynich marginalia?

(04-01-2026, 07:43 PM)MarcoP Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Koen Gheuens made this video on the subject and moderates this forum

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If you post here, he can give you valuable feedback

As far as I’m concerned, Koen and Marco have done the most detailed analyses to date of the marginalia handwriting. I and others on the forum have suggested potential handwriting references from time to time, as well. This is the best place on the Internet to get feedback on your findings.

(04-01-2026, 05:00 PM)basriemin Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I believe I have found a text whose handwriting is compatible with that of the author of the Voynich Manuscript. This text is historically consistent with the Voynich period. It contains information about the author’s name, the city he was associated with, and even the school where he studied. In addition, the marginal notes in the book include remarks that appear to explain the underlying logic by which the Voynich manuscript was written.

How can I compare this handwriting with the Voynich text in a scientific and reliable way? Could you recommend a specialist or expert in this field?

With full credit to the original poster, in another post the original poster mentions a Vatican Library copy of Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine with a page that somewhat resembles some of what’s seen in the VMS. I believe this book may be what he is talking about, specifically in comparison to the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. marginalia: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(13-01-2026, 02:45 AM)magnesium Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I believe this book may be what he is talking about, specifically in comparison to the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. marginalia: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Medical texts miscellany, 14th century: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Direct link to the last page: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

5 paragraphs numbered I, II, III, IV, V, described on the first page:
[attachment=13429]

I. A long "maria peperit salvatorem" prayer with crosses.

II. Virtutes ???que aqu[a]e benedict[a]e seu san[c]te sunt iste: ... (The virtues of these waters, blessed or holy are ...)

III. San[c?]tus Columbanus scripsit has caracteras et misit cuidam regi pra[e]parati ad bellum.  (Saint Columbanus wrote these characters and sent [them] to a certain king preparing for war.) followed by magical characters "à lunettes" and charm with crosses: + abracadabra-like words + ...

IV. Harder to read... a recipe I guess "contra ardorem... " not worth spending hours trying to figure it out.

V. An anonymous Lamento di Alessandro Magno / Historia de proeliis
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In the Latin text above, "ch" is not Voynichese, it is a variant of "et" looking more or less like the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. It is everywhere in the text, here on f. 205r:
[attachment=13424]

basriemin Wrote:In the Vatican archives, I identified an ownership note on the final page of a Canon of Medicine manuscript. This note states that a botany and medicine student from the University of Padua, Johannes of Androna (written at the time as Ionnes), purchased this book in 1401. It is therefore plausible that the Voynich manuscript was written by Johannes himself.

I don't see where it is written, so I'm not sure that it is the same manuscript. The handwriting is not particularly similar to f116v.

basriemin Wrote:In the Vatican archives, I identified an ownership note on the final page of a Canon of Medicine manuscript. This note states that a botany and medicine student from the University of Padua, Johannes of Androna (written at the time as Ionnes), purchased this book in 1401. It is therefore plausible that the Voynich manuscript was written by Johannes himself.

I found the Canon of Medicine manuscript and its ex libris.

Bought in 1401 indeed, 5th day of August. Not Johannes/Ionnes, not Androna but close enough.

Some letters are a good match, others don't really match the VMS marginalia: flat "a" on top, "r" is underscored, "e" is written in two separate parts, ...