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+--- Thread: Pareidolia ... on f0v (/thread-5040.html)
Pareidolia ... on f0v - Jorge_Stolfi - 10-11-2025
While hallucinating retracings on f1v, I noticed that one of the tendrils (Y below) sprouting from the root of the plant seemed to continue past the edge of the vellum, onto the previous folio, at (A). And there were three other tendrils that seemed to do the sam, at (D,F,G), but less distinctly:
But that "previous folio" would not be any proper folio. It would be "f0v", the verso of the front cover.
Fortunately the BL 2014 scans include an image of that page:
There are indeed a few gray streaks on f0v that coincide with the tendrils (A,D,F,G) of f1v. But there are other streaks there -- notably (E), but also (B,C,H). Going back to f1v, those streaks seem to correspond to very faint additional tendrils (S,T,U) from the root. But you may need a good pareidolioscope to see them.
Some things to note:
- Streaks (F) and (H) on f0v coincide with creases on the material, and may be just that.
- Streaks (A-H) are straight, narrow, vertical, and end at about the same height.
- There are no other similar streaks on f0v. There are several more gray spots, but they are all irregular, broader, and fuzzy.
- The material where those streaks occur seems to be a sheet of white material (paper? vellum?) that was originally glued to the front cover, but eventually was scalped away with a sharp blade, leaving only that strip 10-15 mm wide.
The red line on the image of f0v is where the edge of folio f1 lies on the image of f1v. But the streaks extend upwards beyond that line. The blue line is where the edge of folio f1 should have been, if the streaks are indeed "overflow" from f1v. That line is 60 pixels (~4 mm) above the red line. Could it be that when the binding was renewed, bifolio f1-f8 moved up by 4mm relative to the cover? How much could the edge of f1v move upwards just by variations in the bending of the folio?
There is a bigger and possibly more important mystery on that page, namely the resemblance between that plant and the plant on the southeast corner of f102r1 (Pharma). They are not just the same plant. It must be that one was copied from the other, or both were copied from the same original. If the former, which one was the original, and which one is the copy? The You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. version includes a flower, while the f102r1 doesn't. The tendrils on the root are similar but not identical, and so are the leaves...
All the best, --stolfi
RE: Pareidolia ... on f0v - Jorge_Stolfi - 11-11-2025
If those streaks on f0v are not just coincidences, here is a possible explanation. When Voynich applied chemicals to f1r, some of them went through the wormholes and pooled at some places on the bottom of f1v. He then turned the folio over and mopped that spill. As he did that, he dragged the blotting paper or cloth downwards. The chemicals dissolved some of the ink from the tendrils of the root. The motion of the blotter carried that lose ink past the bottom edge of folio f1, depositing some of it on f0v.
There are in fact additional coincidences between You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and 0v. There is a fuzzy dark streak with NW-SE orientation in the bottom left corner of f1v, adjacent to the wormholes; and that streak continues past the bottom edge of folio f1, onto page f0v. Thare are one or two similar examples near the middle of the root area.
All the best, --stolfi