The Voynich Ninja

The manuscript Commentarii super Parvulum philosophiae naturalis is a 15th century philosophical treatise owned by a Jakob Lauber, a Swiss rector of the University of Basel. The manuscript itself is mostly uninteresting from a Voynichese point of view, as it is predominantly composed of text. That is, until the last two pages, where we find some illustrations that look familiar, in a sense. Consider the following snippet, for instance:

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The lines and strokes in the "wave" pattern are reminiscent of the illuminator of the VMS. There are other such patterns in the manuscript. Here is another example:

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Again, this gives (to me, at least), Voynichese vibes.

There is also a small "illumination" on the first page:

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which also reminds one of the style of some plant bulbs in the VMS.

However, no more illustrations appear in this manuscript and the illuminator responsible for the above images is... unknown.

I have found a detailed description of the item on the website of the University of Basel, which lists many pieces of historical information, but nothing about the illuminator:

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And you can browse through the entire manuscript here, if you wish:

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What do you think?

The four elements f157v

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[attachment=13412]

Great find @MarcoP, I completely missed this!

There's also this... whatever this is:

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PS. I can't seem to embed images in my posts, like MarcoP. What's the trick? The /[img/] tag shows a broken link.

(12-01-2026, 09:01 PM)JustAnotherTheory Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.There's also this... whatever this is:

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PS. I can't seem to embed images in my posts, like MarcoP. What's the trick? The /[img/] tag shows a broken link.

Looks like a weird dragon to me? A bit like the one in the vm but stretched out. This isn't the first time a Swiss manuscript pops up here with a ton of similarities to the VM, either in writing style, illustration, shape of letters etc...I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out the VM was produced somewhere in 15th century Switzerland

It looks like a dragon moulded into an initial letter to me
You can add images by clicking "preview post" then use the box to add an image. You can then click "insert into post" to generate a code for it so you can place it where you like

(12-01-2026, 09:01 PM)JustAnotherTheory Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.PS. I can't seem to embed images in my posts, like MarcoP. What's the trick? The /[img/] tag shows a broken link.

You can only add images if you do a full Reply or a full Edit.  Then you get a window way down the webpage that lets you upload images.  That window is not available if you use "Quick Edit" or select some text in some post and use the black balloon "Reply" that comes up at the end of the selection.

(12-01-2026, 09:57 PM)Jorge_Stolfi Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.You can only add images if you do a full Reply or a full Edit.  Then you get a window way down the webpage that lets you upload images.  That window is not available if you use "Quick Edit" or select some text in some post and use the black balloon "Reply" that comes up at the end of the selection.

Thanks, I updated my posts with embedded images now

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Here's another one I found. To me, it reminds me of the peculiar mind of the Voynich illustrator, when drawing complex structures or tunnels:

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Thank you! Ten years ago, Davidsch posted a similar image which also includes some "gallows"

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