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[Book] Unraveling the Voynich Codex - Printable Version

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Unraveling the Voynich Codex - Koen G - 29-05-2018

Authors: Janick, Jules, Tucker, Arthur O.

From You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. Due: July 29, 2018

"First scientifically researched study on the Voynich Codex"


Quote:Unraveling the Voynich Codex reviews the historical, botanical, zoological, and iconographic evidence related to the Voynich Codex, one of the most enigmatic historic texts of all time.

The bizarre Voynich Codex has often been referred to as the most mysterious book in the world.  Discovered in an Italian Catholic college in 1912 by a Polish book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, it was eventually bequeathed to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University.  It contains symbolic language that has defied translation by eminent cryptologists.  The codex is encyclopedic in scope and contains sections known as herbal, pharmaceutical, balenological (nude nymphs bathing in pools), astrological, cosmological and a final section of text that may be prescriptions but could be poetry or incantations. Because the vellum has been carbon dated to the early 15th century and the manuscript was known to be in the collection of Emperor Rudolf II of the Holy Roman Empire sometime between 1607 and 1622, current dogma had assumed it a European manuscript of the 15th century.  However, based on identification of New World plants, animals, a mineral, as well as cities and volcanos of Central Mexico, the authors of this book reveal that the codex is clearly a document of colonial New Spain.  Furthermore, the illustrator and author are identified as native to Mesoamerica based on a name and ligated initials in the first botanical illustration.  This breakthrough in Voynich studies indicates that the failure to decipher the manuscript has been the result of a basic misinterpretation of its origin in time and place.  Tentative assignment of the Voynichese symbols also provides a key to decipherment based on Mesoamerican languages.  A document from this time, free from filter or censor from either Spanish or Inquisitorial authorities has major importance in our understanding of life in 16th century Mexico. 



RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - Anton - 29-05-2018

"Furthermore, the illustrator and author are identified as native to Mesoamerica based on a name and ligated initials in the first botanical illustration."

Well, well, if they took time to look at the last folio, they'd discover that natives of Mesoamerica have something Germanic inherent in them.

I'm afraid Springer's reputation is at stake. But that's their own business. But I don't like this cheap way of marketing in calling it the "first scientifically researched study on the Voynich Codex". Do they mean that all previous research was not scientific? With fourty euros for hardcover, which is not that big price for a scientific book, it's evident they are aiming at mass market with this, and it's a pity they won't avoid cheap spots.


RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - -JKP- - 29-05-2018

(29-05-2018, 09:37 AM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Authors: Janick, Jules, Tucker, Arthur O.

From You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. Due: July 29, 2018

"First scientifically researched study on the Voynich Codex"

That's going to raise some hackles. Many scientists, well-respected ones, have studied the Voynich Codex and even some of the amateurs have taken a scientific approach to studying it.

Science doesn't not always progress quickly (in fact, it usually doesn't) and those who are eager to be published sometimes skip over important steps in the scientific process.


RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - Emma May Smith - 29-05-2018

Quote:Because the vellum has been carbon dated to the early 15th century and the manuscript was known to be in the collection of Emperor Rudolf II of the Holy Roman Empire sometime between 1607 and 1622, current dogma had assumed it a European manuscript of the 15th century.

Rolleyes


RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - Koen G - 29-05-2018

(29-05-2018, 03:10 PM)Anton Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I'm afraid Springer's reputation is at stake.

I didn't want to add my opinion to the opening post, but this is the first thing I thought as well. They're supposed to be a reputable publisher. How does this keep happening...


RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - Helmut Winkler - 30-05-2018

It is really funny when one of the few things we can be reasonably sure about the ms. is that it is first half 15th c.


RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - DonaldFisk - 30-05-2018

(30-05-2018, 09:25 AM)Helmut Winkler Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.It is really funny when one of the few things we can be reasonably sure about the ms. is that it is first half 15th c.


The vellum was made in the early 15th century, from calves, so it certainly is European.   I assume the authors won't be disputing that, but instead claiming that it remained blank until it was written on in Mexico a century later.


RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - Koen G - 31-05-2018

I remember why the other author's name, Janick, rang a bell. While researching a blog post I read one of his papers:

Janick, J., & Stolarczyk, J. (2012). Ancient Greek illustrated Dioscoridean herbals: Origins and impact of the Juliana Anicia Codex and the Codex Neopolitanus. Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca, 49(1), 17-Sep.

Which means that he should be well acquainted with certain crucial herbal manuscripts. I don't understand how he can follow in Tucker's narrative.


RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - DONJCH - 12-06-2018

Look on the bright side. Maybe the Spanish government will put some real money into researching the VMS now!


RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - Koen G - 22-08-2018

So I got access to the online version. Jeez 402 pages. They really put a lot of work into this.

The foreword looks promising:

..."We believe that previous attempts to get to grips with the Voynich Codex have taken a wrong approach because they have erred on its origins in time and place, relying on interpretations rather than the hard evidence."

~implying that they will rely on nothing but the hard evidence and steer clear of interpretations?