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Cipher manuscript
Uniform Title
Voynich manuscript.
Title
Cipher manuscript.
Created
[Central Europe?] ; [ca. 1401-1599?]
Physical Description
ff. 102 +1 : parchment ; 225 x 160 mm.
Language
Undetermined
Notes
Decoration: Almost every page contains botanical and scientific drawings, many full-page, of a provincial but lively character, in ink with washes in various shades of green, brown, yellow, blue and red.
Binding: Modern (18th-19th centuries).
Associated material: Wilfred M. Voynich and Ethel Voynich provenance and research files on the Cipher (Voynich) manuscript (Beinecke MS 408A), Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
In unidentified cipher.
Record created by Beinecke staff from catalog description by Barbara Shailor.
Provenance
From the library of Emperor Rudolph II of Germany. Johannes Marcus Marci of Cronland presented the book to Athanasius Kircher, S. J. (1601-80) in 1666. Acquired by Wilfred M. Voynich in 1912 from the Jesuit College at Frascati near Rome. Given to the Beinecke Library in 1969 by H. P. Kraus (Cat. 100, pp. 42-44, no. 20) who had purchased it from the estate of Ethel Voynich.
Access and use
Restricted material. May not be seen without the permission of the appropriate curator.
Summary
Scientific or magical text in an unidentified language, in cipher, apparently based on Roman minuscule characters; the text is believed by some scholars to be the work of Roger Bacon since the themes of the illustrations seem to represent topics known to have interested Bacon (see also Provenance below.) A history of the numerous attempts to decipher the manuscript can be found in a volume edited by R. S. Brumbaugh, The Most Mysterious Manuscript: The Voynich "Roger Bacon" Cipher Manuscript (Carbondale, Illinois, 1978). Although several scholars have claimed decipherments of the manuscript, for the most part the text remains an unsolved puzzle.
Variant and related titles
Known as: Voynich manuscript
Format
Archives or Manuscripts
Added to Catalog
December 13, 2012
References
Cipher manuscript (Voynich manuscript). General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Cite as
Cipher manuscript (Voynich manuscript). General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Subjects
Subjects (Local Yale)
Genre/Form
Manuscripts, Medieval - Europe - 15th century.
Manuscripts, Medieval - Europe - 16th century.
Bookmark As
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