Ethel Voynich's botanical notebooks

[LisaFaginDavis]

Hi, everyone,

Those of you working on plant identifications may be interested in these PDFs of Ethel Voynich's botanical notebooks. I was at the Beinecke yesterday and photographed Notebook 1 in its entirely and Notebook 2 in part (I didn't have time to photograph all of Notebook 2). You can find the PDFs here:

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You may download, share, use, and cite these as you wish, no permission necessary. Please do cite them properly, though, as Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, MS 408, Box G, Notebook 1 (or 2), and the page number of the notebook.

I took hundreds of images of notes, letters, and press clippings from boxes C-H and will post them once I've got them properly organized and labeled. The general contents of the boxes are listed in Barbara Shailor's description here:

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Ethel's notes are fascinating and detailed. Enjoy!

- Lisa

[Scarecrow]

Hi, everyone,

Those of you working on plant identifications may be interested in these PDFs of Ethel Voynich's botanical notebooks. I was at the Beinecke yesterday and photographed Notebook 1 in its entirely and Notebook 2 in part (I didn't have time to photograph all of Notebook 2). You can find the PDFs here:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

You may download, share, use, and cite these as you wish, no permission necessary. Please do cite them properly, though, as Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, MS 408, Box G, Notebook 1 (or 2), and the page number of the notebook.

I took hundreds of images of notes, letters, and press clippings from boxes C-H and will post them once I've got them properly organized and labeled. The general contents of the boxes are listed in Barbara Shailor's description here:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Ethel's notes are fascinating and detailed. Enjoy!

- Lisa

The last link seems to be badly formatted.. this works for me: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

[Koen G]

Thanks, Lisa, this is fascinating. I will refer directly to these books when I want to know which plant ID's have been proposed in the early days.

I am a bit confused about the relation between this notebook and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. on Rene's site. If I understand correctly, what you scanned should be in the column "ELV, Beinecke" (i.e. not the Grolier). It starts with Atropa Belladonna for f1v, where the scans and Rene's column agree. But for example about You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. it says "Very likely the purple butterbur (Petasites)", a plant which is not present in the table at all. Is the table simply incomplete, or is it based on another document altogether?

[LisaFaginDavis]

You'd have to ask Rene, but there were lots of other notes scattered throughout the boxes. I think it is likely that the notebooks represent her consolidation of the notes she took over the years, although they aren't dated so I can't be certain.

[Aga Tentakulus]

   

Thank you, I skimmed it briefly. As always, English is the problem for me.
Interesting for me that the ink differences are visible in an addendum.
Modern ink but same problem with the mixture, and I'm sure it was the same person.

[Koen G]

I find her handwriting easy to read, it is not much different from the way I learned how to write in school. It is obvious she was scribbling quickly though, and some words are a bit messy. In that sense, understanding the language does help a lot.

[Aga Tentakulus]

I'm sure you're right. But my English is really not at its best. It's just good enough for everyday life.

[bi3mw]

On page 11 there is a sketch with the heading "Solago". Does anyone have an idea to which folio the sketch refers ?

I found "Solago maior (Heliotropium europaeum)" and  Solago minor (African Marigold) here:


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Herba solago maior ( The Hague, MMW, 10 D 7, folio 18v )


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[Juan_Sali]

I found "Solago maior (Heliotropium europaeum)"

Heliotropium europaeum
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You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. page 508 and 509:
   

[MarcoP]

Is there any interest in a complete transcription of these notebooks? In case there are other people interested, I volunteer to contribute....