Nicolas Raymond * The Voynich Manuscript and Nostradamus Connection

[ReneZ]

If you're wondering why Nostradamus would acquire old vellum in particular, I would ask you to look at his name first. His surname given to him at birth was de Nostredame. He stylized it later on as Nostradamus to sound more Latin, and arguably, more sophisticated. He also referenced Antiquity a lot in his writings. To me it makes perfect sense why he would source old vellum to write the Voynich Manuscript. He wanted to make it look classic. Haven't you ever purchased specialty paper like parchment for printing important documents on? I know I do, especially when it comes to printing out Certificates of Authenticity for my own photos & artwork.

Yes, my question was indeed: why would he buy old parchment.
If Nostradamus wanted to write a book on parchment, in the mid 1500's, that would make it look austere right away, so why would he go to the length (and the expense as you say) to get 150-years old parchment, instead of ready-made parchment?
Does he want to pretend that it is an old book, i.e. not written by himself?

You keep referring to old paper, as if that is somehow equivalent.
Had you been able to buy 150-years old parchment (not paper) without using the internet, then you would have a more interesting comparison. (But still not very good evidence).

Note that this discussion about acquiring / reusing old parchment is not a new one within Voynich MS discussions. It is a central part of the theory of Rich Santacoloma, who argues that the MS is a modern fake by Wilfrid Voynich. Now in that framework, it makes sense, because Voynich would be pretending that he did not make the book himself.

(By the way, I can't look at your reddit posts, since reddit doesn't like the IP address of my VPN, and I am not a member.)