[split] Color annotations

[Jorge_Stolfi]

The color annotations look much more refined than the marginalia, especially 116v. If we assume the artist copied color annotations from a source image without understanding them, his writing even got worse later

My guess is that those "anomalous writings" resulted from two distinct processes.  Both assume that, over a couple of centuries, the text and figures had faded to such an extent that the owner engaged another experienced Scribe (the "Retracer") to restore the book, by carefully retracing all the faded parts.

Process [A] applies to the so-called "color keys" found on some plants in quires 1-4.  From the list above, I think that only a few entries are actually of this class:

• The "g" on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (but not the "J").
  
• The 'rot" on the stem of f4r.
  
• The "rot" on the root of f7r.
  
• (Maybe) The "r" on the root of f20r.
  
• (Maybe) The "r" on the root of f29r.
  
• (Maybe) The "p" and "r" on the flower of f32r.
  

The other entries of the list above have other explanations.  Process [A] assumes that the Scribe who did those quires was copying parts of plants from other herbals, possibly "alchemical", provided by the Author.  One of those "cribs" was in German and had some color keys -- possibly written sideways..  Not knowing German, and never having seen color keys before, he misunderstood them for Voynichese labels to be copied, and struggled to interpret the Latin letters as Voynichese glyphs.  Then the Retracer later re-interpreted those misshapen glyphs as Latin letters, and "restored" them as such.

Note that, while the original Scribe was skilled in the handling of quill and vellum, he did not seem to have any prior experience with illustrated manuscripts.  Thus I think it is quite possible that he had never seen manuscripts with color keys before.

Process [B] applies to the long texts on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and on the top margin of f17r.  Those texts were originally in Voynichese, probably by the Author.  A couple centuries later, they had faded so much that one could not even tell whether they were Latin or Voynichese.  Then someone tried to reconstruct those lines assuming that they were Latin letters.  This Retracer (who may or may not have been the same Retracer who restored most of the book) was a "German" (Swiss, perhaps?) and thought he recognized German words in the faded strokes.  

In particular, this "German" restorer assumed that You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. was a religious charm with cross signs, like the ones in the herbal transcribed by Marco. And maybe it was, but in Voynichese...

By the way, I somehow got the impression that similar charms can sometimes be seen on the last page of books of the time, presumably as protection against the Spanish Inquisition That NOBODY Expects or whatever.  Am I hallucinating again?

Anyway, that is the current state of my delusions. All the best, --jorge