Wars, fires, floods, warm/humid environments do not care about the value (true or perceived) of manuscripts...

(02-01-2025, 11:06 AM)Scarecrow Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.As Lisa says in that post, VMS is a heroic and surprising survivor, as it defies the logic of social-, artistic- and scientific value, at least.
Was the survival of our hero planned and intentional - choosing parchment, building a network of sponsors, owners and supporters through the history, or just a coincidence.

Our whole discussion presupposes the existence of the Voynich manuscript and therefore it must have survived or we wouldn't be talking about it. So, its survival may be a complete fluke. Who knows what other interesting historical artifacts have been lost without a trace.

(02-01-2025, 12:37 PM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Wars, fires, floods, warm/humid environments do not care about the value (true or perceived) of manuscripts...

But some manuscripts may have been simply discarded by their owners or not cared for and left to rot.

The 1447 fire in the Milan castle and the 1483 fire in the Doge's palace in Venice seem to be big reasons why so few records of early 15th century Italian ciphers survive.