Alchemical Symbolism in the VMS

[Koen G]

I agree with ReneZ that the VM has information that deserves to be known. To say in the 21st century that a book made with so much work in the 15th century is not worth knowing is a meaningless statement that despises the historical culture of humanity.

I agree to a large extent. 99% of what was written in the 15th century has no immediate value for us today. Much of it would have been theological, (pseudo-)historical or pseudo-scientific. 

I can think of certain types of finds that would be considered more important than average, of course. An earlier attestation of a Bible text. Copies of lost works of fundamental scholars. Autographs by important medieval authors...

The Voynich won't likely be any of those. But saying that its contents are of no value is like saying that the majority of texts produced in the Middle Ages are of no value. The digitized manuscripts we see online are the cream of the crop, and still they are mostly about the Bible, or linking something else to the Bible, or approaches we would today consider superstition or pseudoscience. That is our history.

The Voynich text won't be as valuable as discovering the lost plays of Aeschylus. But probably more valuable than the umpteenth copy of the Speculum Humanae Salvationis, since it will add more to our understanding of what people did and thought in the early 15th century.

This is the most famous manuscript in the world. Learning what is in it, no matter what, will have a greater impact than finding yet another book of Psalms.