Baresch

[david]

There was a tremendous interest in hieroglyphics (in the general sense) in those days, partly because there was fame to be had in decoding them, partly because they might reveal the location of treasures that hadn't yet been plundered, and partly because of the interest in using foreign alphabets as sources for cryptologic ideas.

Actually, people were far more interested in hieroglyphics because of the supposed wisdom locked up in them.
Remember, even at Kircher's time there was still a strong tendency to believe that humanity used to have absolute knowledge, which was taken from us after the Fall of Adam and Eve.
"Researchers" in the Middle Ages weren't interested in making new discoveries, but in unlocking the "wisdom of the ancients". All scientific argument was thus based on precedent.
Egyptian hieroglyphics were thus a mysterious ancient language that promised untold riches of divine knowledge.
At the same time, "hieroglyphics" tended to be a bit of a western European catch-all term for any strange writing not in any of the known scripts (Roman, Arabic, Hebrew basically), and "egyptian" a term for anything from "out there over the sea".

Anyway, what I found interesting was the term Marci, in his "donation letter" to Kircher, used for how the previous owner tried to read the book: He said he was trying to decipher the text, not read or understand. See my You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.:

1. discifrando is not in my Latin dictionary. It appears to be a neologism from Italian (or Spanish) and its meaning is clear: deciphering. Marci has used a very specific word here: not translating, nor reading. A word that is not in classic Latin, he had to search his memory for the exact word he wanted.
   

In fact, I argue You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. that the book reached Kircher at the wrong moment in his life, and that he probably wasn't very interested in it.

He had no interest in opening a new investigation, into some not terribly old manuscript from eastern Europe that did not interest him and that was sent to him unsolicited. He had only a passing interest in herbs, the remainder of the content would not have been attractive to such a scholar who could quickly dismiss them as astrology or natural magic.

What in the Voynich Manuscript would have called out to Kircher? What siren could whisper her song to lure him to its rocks? None. Only the challenge to interpret the words, and Kircher was no cryptologist. He might have simply assumed the whole thing was written in some Slavic script in natural language, something that had never interested him throughout his life.

No, Kircher was busy and distracted. He was overseeing the final peak of the building of his intellectual reputation, whilst worrying about spiritual matters, a severe case of overwork that would result in his collapse of 1667. This manuscript might have fascinated Marci, but it could not attract Kircher.