26-09-2025, 10:37 PM
A wonderful talk, Lisa. If anything, you didn't hype it up enough 
I found myself nodding in agreement most of the time. The idea that the Voynich is more "bifolio based" than it should be is one several people have voiced before, including myself. But to actually argue with evidence that they were never intended to be nested in the first place, that's paradigm shifting. I like it. It also explains why they were so nonchalant with differently sized sheets.
It's interesting to imagine that at some point, someone must have gathered all the Voynichese content available in that environment and decided to put it together in a codex that was, perhaps, never meant to be.
One counterargument I can think of is that the pages, apart from the foldouts, are still layed out as of they should go in a codex, with 4 pages per bifolio. I guess it's more convenient to fold bifolia in half, even when they are loose leaflets.
I found myself nodding in agreement most of the time. The idea that the Voynich is more "bifolio based" than it should be is one several people have voiced before, including myself. But to actually argue with evidence that they were never intended to be nested in the first place, that's paradigm shifting. I like it. It also explains why they were so nonchalant with differently sized sheets.
It's interesting to imagine that at some point, someone must have gathered all the Voynichese content available in that environment and decided to put it together in a codex that was, perhaps, never meant to be.
One counterargument I can think of is that the pages, apart from the foldouts, are still layed out as of they should go in a codex, with 4 pages per bifolio. I guess it's more convenient to fold bifolia in half, even when they are loose leaflets.