MANUSCRTO VOINICH http://proto57.wordpress.

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"Nebulosa" de Newbold
31 De mayo de 2013

Cualquiera que tenga un inters en la historia de Voynich es consciente de las tentativas lamentables y desastrosas de William Romaine Newbold para resolver sus misterios. Aunque un hombre serio e inteligente, l probablemente se podra considerar el primero en caer a vctima a la vasta, nebulosa, naturaleza del problema, en el que a menudo se puede ver cualquier solucin a que sus inclinaciones individuales llevan. Pero nebuloso es un poco de un adjetivo apropiado e incluso punny, en caso de Newbold, como su ms famoso error fue creer que Roger Bacon no slo escribi el Voynich, sino que posea el equipo ptico que le permite la capacidad de discernir la estructura espiral de la galaxia de Andrmeda... o "Nebulosa", en su tiempo. Aqu no ocuparse de las mltiples facetas de reclamaciones infames de Newbold, entre los cuales estaba la creencia de que cada personaje estaba compuesta por segmentos microscpicos, que eran por lo tanto informacin codificada; o las cadenas largas resultantes de resultados subjetivos de los segmentos, que se convirti en anagramas inmenso que di resultado infinita y diversa. Lo que me interesa son las sugerencias de Andrmeda. Apenas requiere una explicacin detallada de por qu l estaba equivocado, pero muy simple, el detalle necesario para ver que la naturaleza de la espiral del Andromeda no era posible hasta que los telescopios de la ltima parte del siglo XIX permitieron. Pero si usted est interesado en una buena diseccin de las razones por qu, Lee de Norman Sperling excelente post el blog sobre el tema, "Voynich: espiral en locura". Como Sperling escribe en su primera frase, "de William R. Newbold 1921 que el grfico de la espiral en folio 68r representa una nebulosa espiral es cucheta salvaje."

Foto de 1899 de Isaac Robert de la galaxia de Andrmeda Arriba es el primer cuadro de la galaxia de Andrmeda, tomada por Isaac Roberts, en 1895. Como lo describi en su libro de 1899, "fotografas de estrellas, cmulos de estrellas y Nebul", "Que la nebulosa es una izquierda espiral y no anular como yo al principio sospechaba, ahora no puedo ser cuestionada; para las circunvoluciones pueden rastrearse hasta el ncleo que se asemeja a una pequea estrella brillante en el centro de la nebulosidad circundante denso; pero a pesar de su densidad, las divisiones entre las circunvoluciones son claramente visibles en negativos que tienen un grado adecuado de exposicin". Comparar la fotografa de Roberts y descripcin, anteriormente, con la imagen de f68r de Voynich, abajo. Tambin nota que la imagen de Voynich espiral a la derecha, no de la izquierda, igual que el Andromeda:

Bueno es "Espiral", de todos modos Entonces Newbold mostr la imagen de la espiral de f68r (arriba) a un "Eric Doolittle de nuestra flor Observatorio", que (segn el libro de Newbold/Kent, "La cifra de Roger Bacon", dijo Newbold, ".. .que en su opinin sin duda represent una nebulosa, y que el hombre que dibuj debe han tenido un telescopio". Esto solo parece haber conducido Newbold a uno de sus "desciframientos puramente especulativos" del centro de ilustracin de espiral de f68r. Sin embargo tenga en cuenta que Doolittle no dicen qu nebulosa espiral y tener esto en cuenta al considerar que algunas nebulosas espirales conocido y fotografiado por aquella poca, realmente eran vistas como una forma circular... como se muestra en figura de f68r... y no como un valo, debido a un ngulo para el espectador, igual que el Andromeda (ver ms abajo, "Isaac Roberts M51 y M100 'Com'"). As que no podemos realmente dibujamos a Doolittle en la web del error, teniendo en cuenta esto, ni saber cmo la ilustracin fue presentada a l en primer lugar. Sin embargo, Newbold toma la pista de la nebulosa, funciona con l y traduce el Voynichese en el centro de la espiral,

"La leyenda es extremadamente difcil de descifrar, pero mi primer intento dio la ubicacin del objeto entre"el ombligo de Pegaso, el cinto de Andrmeda y la cabeza de Cassiopea"y afirm que fue visto en un espejo cncavo. La gran nebulosa de Andrmeda se encuentra dentro del tringulo determinado por estos tres puntos; est ah para presumible el objeto que Bacon vio." Y aqu, tambin vemos Newbold sustitucin "Telescopio" de Dolittle con un "espejo cncavo". Veo en esto una manipulacin falsa, cientfica de los resultados puramente subjetivas de Newbold, reflejan lo que l debe haber sospechado: telescopios estaban fuera de la cuestin para Roger Bacon, pero hubo matices histricos de cncava espejos se utiliza en esta capacidad, en una fecha muy prxima. Revisar la f68r "espiral" en cuestin. Y a continuacin vemos la imagen de Isaac Roberts de Nebul M51 y M100 "Com", en 1890s. Com aparece en su libro de 1899. Me s iento estos ayudan a exonerar a Doolittle en cierta medida y mire ms Newbold en una niebla de juicio cuestionable. Porque yo tendra que decir eso si vi las fotografas, y la ilustracin anterior de Voynich, ciertamente habra pens, igual Doolittle, si haba una conexin. Por lo menos estoy seguro que de no lo habra saltado a Andromeda oval-aparicin, Newbold igual, como me no pareci nunca un buen partido. Tambin observo son espirales de derecha, como ilustracin de f68r es:

Me he supuesto, como otros han preguntado si Romaine Newbold fue vctima de un exceso de imaginacin, que condujo sus especulaciones salvajes a sus conclusiones obviamente incorrectos. Pero al mismo tiempo me sent esto puede apuntar a Voynich, y posiblemente otros, despus de haber alimentado a los pobres hombre suficiente Roger Bacon "guios y asiente con la cabeza" que le enviara de los acantilados de autoengao. Quien estudiar Bacon pronto seran consciente de su posible utilizacin de ptica y cdigo, que habra causado Newbold a recogerlos con condimento bien, sabemos que lo hizo- pero luego l acusado a la velocidad de la luz por un camino de Voynich nunca pensado o imaginado. Pero quizs todos Voynich quera realmente era...

... para Newbold simplemente ver unos microscopios en lugar de "tarros", un par de diatomeas y tal y tal vez, M51 del libro Isaac Roberts. Si ste es el caso, me imagino la gran frustracin de Voynich. En lugar de ser entregado a la deseada razonable y sin embargo emocionante, Roger Bacon atribucin, Newbold en cambio logrado contaminar un poco la imagen del manuscrito cifrado, junto con su propia reputacin e incluso, el nombre de Roger Bacon mismo... y as destruir cualquier oportunidad de que Wilfred Voynich vendera este manuscrito en su vida. Etiquetas: Andrmeda, galaxy, manuscrito, nebulosa, newbold, romaine, voynich Publicada en citas las VMs, ptica | Deja un comentario

El microscopio verde
18 De mayo de 2013

Cuando primero propuse a Mis teoras de Voynich/ptica hace aos, una de las crticas ms comunes de l fue que algunas de las ilustraciones de microscopio utiliza como comparaciones de fechas ms tarde de la hora de mi teora. Esto es cierto, y reconozco. Por supuesto sera y todava puede utilizarlos, como las descripciones de dispositivos pticos 1610/20 y los anteriores incluso en algunos casos, muestran que ms adelante 17th siglo ptico instrumentos tienen muchas de las caractersticas de los dispositivos anteriores, a menudo perdidas y no ilustrados. Sin embargo, el problema tena un efecto sobre lo que vieron esto, pero no necesariamente lo que los crticos la intencin. Utilizaron este punto para reclamar que los cilindros de Voynich no poda microscopios, pero al mismo tiempo, fueron descartando el hecho de que su observacin implica tambin que si se tratara de los microscopios que estaban de acuerdo en que se asemej a, entonces el Voynich fue ms reciente que ellos o yo, sugiri. En efecto, ignoraban una implicacin importante, una posibilidad abierta por la observacin muy hacan. Esto resulta an ms evidente si tenemos en cuenta que al menos tres de las ms nuevas ilustraciones de microscopio estaba comparando a los cilindros de Voynich fueron tan buen partido, que posiblemente podran ser la fuente real de la ilustracin de Voynich. Los dos ms notables son el "microscopio de verde" y de los en Espaol grabado , ambos muy similares a los cilindros en las pginas de f101v. As que si usted toma el punto de la crtica a su valor nominal, que los dispositivos se ven "muy nuevo", uno est abierto a cualquier edad de Voynich entre 1404 y 1912, cuando Wilfred dijo que lo encontr. Teniendo en cuenta estos puntos y cuando comenc a seriamente considerar el manuscrito de Voynich puede ser un sigloXIX falso, yo por supuesto revisitado muchas de mis viejas ideas bajo una nueva luz.

Aqu es el microscopio de verde en comparacin con un cilindro de f101v. Se puede ver que la coloracin, proporcin, la parte superior empotrada, la colocacin del cambio en el dimetro y la inclusin (si no la representacin exacta) de decoracin, demuestran que el microscopio verde y este cilindro de Voynich son sorprendentemente similares. Incluso el verde de la vitela que cubre y el marrn donde las porciones de madera del microscopio son desnudas, aparentemente estn representados. Creo que puede decirse que si una persona vio el microscopio actual y tena el apropiado tintas, lpices y pinceles, no cualquier dibujo resultante sera muy diferente a la ilustracin de Voynich. Pero en orden para el microscopio de verde aparecer en un manuscrito de forjado del siglo XX temprano 20, tendra que ser razonable esperar que el presunto falsificador habra visto. Y probablemente habran tenido que haber visto el dispositivo real y no una foto en un libro, porque fotografas a color en los libros eran muy infrecuentes antes de 1912. No he visto esto uno, en cualquier caso, en los microscopio libros que he encontrado, ya sea en blanco y negro o color, fotografiados o ilustrado. As para que el microscopio de verde real que el modelo, tendra

que ser razonable que Wilfred Voynich podra haber vistolo. Volv a la pgina web del Museo Galileo, el Museo que tiene el microscopio para ver si esto tena sentido. El Museo Galileo, resulta, en Florencia, Italia. El Microscopio verde han posean desde el sigloXVIII temprano, estipulado como un legado de "Vincenzo Viviani". Muri en 1703, por lo que han tenido desde acerca de entonces. El Museo aparentemente no saban la edad real o creador de este microscopio... y aparece como una "parte del microscopio", asumen que es una "parte del tubo del cuerpo" de uno... pero especulan que origina de la "tarde siglo XVII" . Era una prctica en el tiempo, en algunos de los microscopios, que la seccin central del dispositivo extrable, para utilizarlo como un "microscopio de campo". Algunos incluso se realizaron as desde el principio, con ningn soporte, llevar en las cosas del medio ambiente y el estudio en el campo. La ubicacin del Museo en Florencia fue alentador comienzo, porque a principios del siglo XIX , Wilfred Voynich fue tambin en Florencia. Haba comprado, en 1908, el gran Libraria Franceschini, en 110 Via Ghibellina. Este Emporio de gran libro, que contiene ms de medio milln manuscritos, incunables, folletos, mapas y quin-sabe-qu, ha a menudo se sospecha una posible, real, fuente de la Voynich... as como el lugar Wilfred puede han desenterrado la pila pequea de vitela antigua l podra haber utilizado para forjar su manuscrito cifrado famoso. Voynich y el microscopio de verde y un vasto archivo de vitela estaban todos en la misma ciudad, al mismo tiempo! Pero qu tan cercanos estaban? Los instrumentos cientficos del Museo Galileo fueron trasladados a la ubicacin actual... slo 1.900 metros de Voynich de tienda, resulta que... en 1930. Necesitaba saber donde estaba antes, entre 1908 y 1912, cuando Voynich estaba todava all, y antes de que anunciara el manuscrito. As que escribi para el Museo y cont con la presencia de un director retirado, "La coleccin de Viviani fue ubicada antes en el Hospital de Santa Maria Nuova. Luego, en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX, fue dado al Museo di Antichi Strumenti (Museo de instrumentos antiguos), situado en el Museo "La Specola" de hoy." Tan La Specola era el hogar del microscopio verde durante el tiempo de presencia de Voynich en Florencia. Y fue y es, la ubicacin de la Trubuna De Galileo, una magnfica alcoba con una estatua de Galileo, una serie de frisos con escenas importantes de su vida y rodeado por salas que contienen las colecciones de instrumentos cientficos antiguos de la coleccin de Viviani y otros. Y result que la coleccin fue en 4 Via Georgio La Pira, un mero 1,3 kilmetros, 15 minutos a pie de las puertas de Libraria de Voynich.El microscopio de la verde fue de 15 minutos del hombre que "encontr" el manuscrito de Voynich, que contiene una imagen que refleja prcticamente el mismo dispositivo.

Un muy corto y agradable paseo Pero el hecho de que han visto muy bien el microscopio verde tiene otra implicacin, para aquellos que consideran el manuscrito de Voynich es real: si Wilfred haba pensado que haba encontrado un manuscrito precioso "Roger Bacon", tambin habra sabido Bacon crea haber posedo y utiliza sofisticados dispositivos pticos...

Tribuna Di Galileo ... entonces por qu Voynich no ver y cuenta la similitud entre los dibujos y el microscopio de verde, que l mismo? Porque l no podra sealar a l, ms que l podra sealar directamente a la carta de Baresch, o cualquier otros posibles fuentes falso... Si forj el manuscrito de Voynich. Bueno, a menos que quiera teorizan que el hombre tena muy pobre capacidad de observacin, o peor, que fue tentado nunca, al menos una vez en 5 aos, para lo que debe ser un fantstico paseo por las calles de una de las ciudades ms bellas del mundo, a la mayor coleccin de instrumentos cientficos raros e importantes en el mundo.

Etiquetas: Florencia, manuscrito, ptica, voynich Publicada en citas las VMs, ptica | 2 Comentarios

Anne Nill habla

16 De enero de 2013

En 2008 tuve la oportunidad de la coleccin de Voynich en Grolier Club de Nueva York. Mi hija y yo hicimos varios descubrimientos interesantes, incluyendo el cuaderno personal de Ethel de identidades de la planta. Este hallazgo implica que estaba absolutamente convencido de la autenticidad del manuscrito de Voynich, que haba sido una pregunta en algunos sectores. Algunas de la correspondencia de la coleccin color algunos aspectos menores del negocio de Voynich, pero realmente no haba nada innovador en la naturaleza. Por supuesto slo pudo mirar a travs de dos de las cajas (#6 y #8) y realmente no tena el tiempo que necesitaba para explorar incluso aquellos en la medida que me hubiera gustado. Y desde luego, yo quera una oportunidad para ver en la casilla #5, que contiene mucha correspondencia entre Anne Nill, Wilfred y apoderado de Ethel y Herbert Garland, Director de la oficina de Londres de Voynich.

Anne Nill, de 1924 Christian Science Monitor artculo Desde 2008, se haba sugerido a m que ese recuadro 5 podran ser importantes en darnos informacin sobre la procedencia de la Sra. de Voynich, porque se pensaba que si Anne Nill saba algo acerca de esto, ella puede haber revel a Garland. Dieron permiso en el verano de 2012 para examinar estas cartas y baj el 24 de julio. Otra vez, no podra decir que las letras alteracin el paisaje de Voynich a cualquier grado, pero hubo algunas revelaciones interesantes. Lo ms importante, hubo un cambio en mi entendimiento del lugar y el valor que tena el manuscrito de Voynich a Wilfred, Ethel, Anne y Herbert. No fue simplemente una de sus propiedades, ni incluso simplemente aquella que fue ms potencialmente valiosa. Fue ms all de eso. Parece el Voynich, o "Sra. tocino", haba llegado a ser una manera la identidad de la firma y ni una parte de su propia identidad. Todos parecan hacer una gran esperanza, a travs de difciles pocas que sobrevivira a un destino de miseria y oscuridad, cuando y si pudo validar correctamente la posesin preciosa. Creo que esta actitud, esta esperanza, pudo haber incluso causado a perder el enfoque en el negocio conjunto. El negocio del libro s mismo fue un castillo de naipes tienen un tenue en torno a la Sra. Voynich, que casi fue conservado a pesar de ser una carga, fomentando la creencia de que el manuscrito de la misteriosa cifra viene a su rescate y pagar todas las deudas y asegurar su futuro... pero slo si ellos slo podran resolver su verdadero autor, y propsito. Al mismo tiempo estaba claro que se sentan protectores, no slo para este potencial valor monetario, sino tambin por el valor intrnseco, romntico. Era su tesoro, y fue su legado. Las Letras de Nill/Garland cubren un periodo de alrededor de 1928 y 1935 y son copias de las cartas de la Sra. Nill a Garland y muchas de sus cartas a ella. Los dos se hicieron amigos durante los aos, y es fcil ver su relacin cambiar y desarrollar durante ese tiempo. Pas de una conexin de socios de negocios que tienen una especie de camaradera y en una ms personal, en el que la cuota de sus puntos de vista de la familia, vida, poltica, la gran depresin, personales esperanzas, xitos y fracasos, enfermedad y muerte. Parece que la cada en el comercio del libro, la muerte de Wilfred en 1930 y el envejecimiento, las enfermedades y lesiones de Ethel Voynich y Sra. Garland, todo conducido Anne y Herbert en trminos ms cercanos. Mientras los aos, tenan una especie de huddle emocional "otro lado del charco", a travs de las decenas de cartas, donde podra compadecer a nivel personal, pero tambin planean salir de una situacin de negocios cada vez ms desesperada. Libros raros no vendan en la depresin, por supuesto. Pero incluso en 1928, antes el Crash de la bolsa, Anne revela, Voynich haba ya prestado $8.500 para mantener a flote el negocio. Y despus de su muerte, despus del accidente, y el comercio del libro comenz a disminuir junto con todo lo dems, fue hasta Anne para averiguar la mejor manera de mercado y vender las acciones, pagar los alquileres de las oficinas, mantener la reputacin del legado de Voynich, pagar inmuebles e impuestos de ventas y al mismo tiempo, cuidar de su querido amigoEthel. Ella lament que trabaj "cada da y el domingo", y tarde en la noche para cumplir con sus responsabilidades como ella vio. Y ella maneja su lote en la vida con dignidad, inteligencia, gracia y humor.

Durante la depresin, Anne relacionadas que necesitaba vender una lnea de base de $1,000 de libros al mes para mantener a flote el negocio de Voynich y satisfacer las necesidades de la casa. No siempre fue capaz de hacer esto. En la carta misma en la que ella describe la muerte de Wilfred - de manera muy emotiva y personal va "Ahora sobre negocios, puesto que la vida es una confusin tal que debemos pensar de cuentas cuando se enfrentan con la muerte......Por supuesto, no he tenido tiempo para intentar recaudar efectivo esta semana pero me llevar encima esta carga la semana que viene para ver lo que puedo hacer. Ahora hay unos 3000 $ en el Banco (de los cuales propongo enviar al menos 200 para gastos de alquiler y oficina) pero no podr tocarlo hasta que la voluntad ha sido verificada". Sin embargo, menos de un ao ms tarde, se exigi el impuesto a la herencia y ascendieron a $3.400. Entonces dijo Garland que slo ella poda pagar $2.000 hacia esos impuestos, necesitaban el otro dinero en la cuenta de gastos, y tendra que deber restantes $1.400 al estado al 12% de inters. Y ventas de libros continuaron disminuyendo, y las facturas Pile. Y as fue, mes tras mes, ao tras ao. Fue un momento difcil y haba siempre hablar de cerrar las oficinas y los negocios. Pero al parecer Ethel quera continuarlo y tena grandes esperanzas. Anne intent satisfacer esas esperanzas, en vano. Hubo muchas veces hablar de cerrar la oficina de Londres y la posible terminacin de Garland. Al principio pareca como si iba a suceder pronto despus de la muerte de Wilfred. Pero dentro de poco tiempo, Anne y Ethel llegaron a la decisin de la oficina de Londres, y Garland, podra seguir en el negocio y ayudar a vender la bolsa de Londres, si no simplemente continuar indefinidamente como negocio en marcha. Anne pudo ofrecer varios lotes de libros de Estados Unidos y Londres, a travs de la casa de subastas de Sotheby en Londres, que ayud a. Parece que como Wilfred antes, Anne demasiado, ahora tena dudas sobre la capacidad de las subastas de libro de Nueva York para obtener un precio justo, o incluso describir los libros correctamente. Anne hizo su mejor esfuerzo y fue proactiva en la representacin de la poblacin. A menudo sugiri ttulos a los coleccionistas, los clientes nuevos y anteriores. As ella rpidamente y por necesidad evolucion de un Gerente de oficina en un distribuidor de libro a s misma, y an hizo intentos para reponer las existencias... aunque con escasos recursos y mltiples tareas y preocupaciones, esto fue muy difcil para ella. Pero debido a todos los obstculos que enfrentan y los ingresos de la subasta y ventas privadas a menudo fue decepcionante (ni siquiera llega al nivel de sus necesidades diarias), Anne nunca fue capaz de acumular el peculio que ella esperaba. Pero la promesa de que tengan que salir de esa espiral deprimente, y pone en dos tesoros todava poseyeron. A lo largo de estos aos difciles, Anne y Ethel celebrado esperanza que podran venderse dos libros de su coleccin y salvar el negocio y todos ellos. Estos se conocen como el "tocino" y "Valturius". Por supuesto el "tocino", que a menudo tambin fue conocido como el "Da. cifrado", fue el Ms Voynich.. El Valturius fue uno de gran de WMV... encuentra

una copia del manuscrito, en vitela, de re Militari, por Robertus Valturius (curiosamente, Voynich propiedad simultneamente una segunda copia de este libro, que ni Ana ni Wilfred pareca siempre activamente promover. De hecho, parece ser algo as como un secreto, fuera una mencin breve, ms adelante en el catlogo de DiRicci de 1937). Segn tengo entendido, las versiones impresas, con ilustraciones de grabar en madera, son y eran muy raros y valiosos. Tener una copia del manuscrito real de este libro por lo tanto fue un recurso potencial para Voynich. Hasta su muerte, ocup la esperanza de que quiz consiga tanto como $100.000. Sin embargo, despus de que l se haba ido, Anne y Ethel aparentemente slo tenan asegurado por 7.800. Este modesto nmero parece ser para ahorrar en su prima de seguro, como el Voynich slo haba asegurado por 4.000. Pero an as, "El tocino" y "Valturius" fueron los motores de esperanza para Voynich y Ethel, y despus de Wilfred haba desaparecido, lo nico real esperan Anne Nill que ella podra salvar la empresa, ella misma y Ethel de la pobreza. Por supuesto nunca vendan mientras Ethel estaba viva. Y como sabemos ahora, Anne finalmente hered el Voynich y haba vendido por una mera $15.000, poco antes de su muerte. El "Voynich Valturius" fueron finalmente vendidos por Kraus a Lessing Rosenwald de J. y luego leg por l a la biblioteca del Congreso, donde residen hoy. Y en su haber, y no obstante, lamentablemente, parece poner Anne sus propios sueos en espera durante todos estos aos. Ella nunca se casaron y parece haber tenido una vida un poco preocupada. Est claro que sus responsabilidades a la preocupacin de Voynich y Ethel, fueron una gran parte de la causa de esto, tanto como el tiempo que vivi en. Fue irnico que Wilfred se estipula algunos herencia substancial para ella, pero no se recaudara Anne, porque eso significara una dificultad ms para Ethel. Anne escribi, "En cuanto a m, Sr. Voynich ha hecho una ms que generosa disposicin, que siento que puedo aceptar slo si Bacon y Valturius pasan por. Pero como siempre he sentido que Valturius no traer $100.000 ni nada parecido. Si pasan por significa que sera posible para m continuar el negocio de alguna manera si me interesa, y tal vez esto es lo que quera, pero en este momento no veo nada claramente. Hay tal vaco. Sin embargo no es necesario ir en cualquier cosa de esta naturaleza todava y todo lo que s es la Sra. Voynich y voy a estar en armona y que es importante ". Amistad y confianza y deber vinieron primeros para esta mujer, y ella haba pegado esos principios a travs de los tiempos cada vez ms turbulentos de la gran depresin. Fue su personaje que ligan para ella, Ethel y hasta el fin del empleo y despus, para Herbert Garland, su amiga. Las letras refieren a estas dificultades, pero tambin los pequeos triunfos-como Ethel deseosas de un piano, que no podan- y tener un amigo por casualidad mencionar eran mviles sin ellos, y as Ethel y Anne consiguieron para el mvil tarifa de $12. Anne era feliz que Ethel tena el piano para jugar, aunque ella pareci fuera de lugar en el apartamento y demasiado grande. Pero fue

sorprendente para m la importancia de las mujeres a la Sra. Voynich y el inters que tenan. Como mencion en mi ltima visita a la Grolier aprend lo que Ethel profundiz en el misterio, en la forma de su cuaderno personal de identificacin de la planta. Pero fue ms all de esto, como caja 5 revela ahora. El inters era profunda y compartida por ambas mujeres. Fue criado de la preocupacin por el valor del manuscrito, que senta confiados en la preservacin de la "atribucin de tocino", pero su fascinacin fue tambin uno de romance y misterio, tanto como ha ocupado durante cientos o miles de personas durante siglos. Fueron enganchados en l, al igual que tantos desde, y siguen siendo. Anne solicit una copia de un libro sobre Roger Bacon de Garland (y hace un punto que ese libro, para 8 chelines y la copia del tbano que l procur, no se le cobrar al negocio). Mencion que encontrar "paralelos" con la obra de Bacon en el Voynich. Y mientras tanto, Ethel consult con botnicos de todo el mundo, para ayudarla con su identidad de la planta. Anne mencion que Ethel encontr consuelo en este trabajo y pasaba horas con los Photostats que se difunda en una mesa delante de ella. Y en referencia a su esperanza de que los distintos miembros de lo que ella denomina el "equipo de Voynich" de expertos... entre ellos viril, Garrett y Thompson... sera determinar que esto era, en realidad, una obra de Roger Bacon. El 20 de junio de 1930, escribe, "Manly profesor llamado esta semana, se diriga de Londres a Chicago. Sra. Voynich vinieron para la ocasin y tuvimos una interesante dos horas. Meterla a decir todo sobre l y lo que piensa de la Sra. y el cartn, etc. etc.. Por supuesto no sigue creyendo en el trabajo del profesor Newbold, pero crea que la Sra. es de gran importancia. Parece que han discutido con todos en Europa, incluyendo Bernard Behrenson (que, dice, est muy interesado en l). tambin habl con poco, que, dice, considera es una Ms importante. ". Y viril, aunque por supuesto ms tarde l desacreditar trabajo de Newbold, continuado teniendo una relacin con Ethel y Anne y deje saber antes de su trabajo e intereses relativos a l. Este trabajo parte de Manly, con la Sra. de Voynich, tuvo un efecto directo sobre la decisin de mantener el negocio abierto a travs de 1931 y 1932. Sobre su 1931 resea del libro de KentNewbold en espculo, "[Viril] nos envi dos copias de este"separata"de la revisin, que dijo que estaba enviando a varios estudiosos, con la esperanza de revivir el inters en la Amond Sra. otros que dijo que l haba enviado a Steele, Kenyon y flor. Parece estar haciendo lo que pueda. Pidi una lista de aquellos a quienes queremos enviarlo. Se trata de una de las razones que consideramos que la oficina debe seguir al menos este invierno. Resulta imposible hacer nada, si el negocio sigue siendo mala, pero tenemos la sensacin de que Manly (y tal vez el obispo y Thompson) har lo que puede este invierno, haciendo uso del artculo "Espculo". Si nada sucede entonces, parece que un retraso indefinido."

All la segunda esperanza, "Valturius", figuraba en tambin. Anne continu, "Otra razn para continuar con la oficina para el invierno [1931/32] es el Valturius. Queremos tratar de trabajar un inters N.Y.P.L. [New York Public Library] cuartos si es posible. Esto es, por supuesto, una posibilidad pelada. Hace aos el Sr. Kane no habra escuchado a una sugerencia que considerarse para la coleccin de Spencer y ahora no puede, pero por fin lo he conseguido hasta el punto que l ha le pidi prestado el libro de Hutton a su regreso a la ciudad este otoo. Si uno puede hacer una vez que ste interesado en la vida de Malatesta uno sera capaz de riesgo mostrndole la MS, aunque es sobre todo en el papel, que l estar seguro de nota como contra l. No veo cmo el Sr. Garrett puede contemplar su compra en cualquier cosa como el futuro cercano, como su fortuna, como he dicho antes, est ligado con los ferrocarriles, y noticias del ferrocarril sigue siendo tan malo como sea posible". De qu sirven tesoros como stos, si no hay nadie para comprarlos? En cuanto a los interesados en "Malatesta", esto se refiere a Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, 1417-1468, el noble que encarg el Valturius. Anne estaba haciendo su parte como vendedor, un papel que ella haba sido empujada en.

Me llam la atencin con el carcter familiar de la respuesta a este problema, estas personas, y por las personas que compartieron con. Era familiar no slo en las muchas historias que nos podemos leer acerca del pasado-desde las primeras letras por Marci, en el sigloXVII y el tiempo invertido despus de estas cartas, Friedman y todos los muchos otros expertos y no en las dcadas posteriores- pero tambin en puestos de trabajo que veo hoy, en la red de Voynichy alrededor de la web, en foros, blogs y artculos y mensajes de correo electrnico personales. Las preguntas realmente no han cambiado, el enfoque y las actitudes hacia el misterio son lo mismo, y las esperanzas y sueos para ver una respuesta compartan mucho antes de que ninguno de nosotros saba de l. Anne, ella tena sus propias teoras sobre el manuscrito, que se relacionaban con en una carta a Garland - pero por alguna razn decidi no compartir con posteridad, reemplazando la letra que se indica, en 1936, con una nota, listado de contenidos de la carta, entre ellos, "C) me mi trabajo sobre la Sra. cifrado" pero hay referencias a sus propias ideas, y otra es, hace referencia a veces a una manera para que sea difcil para m saber la fuente, o si ella se hace referencia a la Sra. de cifrado o el Valturius... Parece que ella pens que Bellini sera atribuible a uno u otro (ms tarde se enter que Wilfred esperaba el "bosquejo de muchacho" en su mejor Valturius podra ser un Bellini perdido). Pero la bsqueda era un tema frecuente, como sucedi en este pasaje,

"Yo podra seguir y seguir acerca de una cosa y otra, pero yo no debo aburrir demasiado. Sin embargo quiero informarle sobre los ltimos desarrollos en relacin con el manuscrito de cifrado. Sra. Voynich ha estado trabajando en la Morgan Library, y Miss Greene sigue siendo ms amable y servicial. Hace poco tiempo ella ofreci a la opinin de que ella no crea cualquier erudito en este pas sera capaz de ayudarnos con el problema y le pregunt por qu nosotros no intent Alemania por ejemplo. Mencion la Kulturwissenschaftliches Bibliothek Warburg en Hamburgo (vase Minerva si est interesado) que, segn ella, es un caldo de cultivo perfectamente asombrosa de aprendizaje. Pareca sentir que si no nos ayudan no se puede. Por supuesto no siga. Bien, el resultado de ello fue que un cierto Dr. Erwin Panofsky de ese Instituto est actualmente en Nueva York y Miss Greene sugiri que ella acercar a l y Sra. Voynich - muy decente de ella no cree. Por lo que la Sra. Voynich lo conoc en la Morgan Library donde ella le mostr la Seventeen (tenga en cuenta que son negativos y ahora en mal estado, enormemente tener desapareci en algunas partes). Se interes intensamente y pareca pensar MS. temprano, tal vez tan temprano como el siglo XIII. Pidi ver la original, que nos demostr el viernes pasado [debe le han llevado a la caja]. Su primera impresin fue que era temprano, pero como l vino a las figuras femeninas (en conjunto con los colores utilizados en el manuscrito) lleg a la conclusin de que no poda ser anterior al siglo XV. Cuanto ms pienso de l (siempre teniendo en cuenta mis conocimientos delgado del arte) cuanto ms pienso que su argumento es slido. No puedo pensar en un nico MS. temprano o pintura que contiene tales figuras femeninas "bien formados" como los de la MS. Adems est convencido de que el MS. Espaol (o algo sur cerca de Espaa) y muestra la fuerte influencia rabe y juda. Piensa que hay cierta influencia del Kabbala en l.! Bueno, todo lo que sera interesante, de todos modos. Sabe usted profesor Thompson y profesor Manly han sugerido espaol durante algn tiempo (que se cree podra haber algo luliana en l). Principios del siglo XV, sera demasiado tarde para la calma, pero fcilmente podra tener algo lulista en l. Dr. Panofsky examin las dos frases ms o menos visibles (uno en la pgina) y otro en la pgina 17 [r] que son aparentemente no cifrado y parecan pensar eran espaol en lugar de latn (o ms bien algo que tena que ver con el espaol). Me inclino a pensar que tiene razn. Tambin not, lo que me complace decir que yo haba notado antes, que los nombres de los meses en las placas de los signos del zodiaco y sin duda por una mano posterior, parecen sugerir a espaol. Por ejemplo abril se escribe "Abril". Octubre es el "Octembre" (o Octember que se me olvida), que ciertamente sugieren algn tipo de espaol, en lugar de latn, francs o italiano. El resultado de ello es que le hemos dado un conjunto de Seventeen para su Instituto, como quiere que dos hombres all para trabajar en l. Uno de ellos (yo thiink profesor Salomon o Liebeschutz) parece identificado algunos notable manuscrito Vaticano (escrito en una especie de senseless del latn si recuerdo mal) que haba desafiado a eruditos durante mucho tiempo. Tal vez no reaccionarn a l como l parece pensar lo harn, pero si lo hacen, hemos logrado al menos una de las cosas que Sr. Voynich lo quera era slo este mtodo de ataque, en un Instituto, que siempre esperaba y pensaba que era posible garantizar que a menos que el MS. fue vendido a una institucin. Ahora parece como si

sera posible iniciar un trabajo de este tipo en l incluso si no podemos vender el MS. en este momento." A medida que gira hacia fuera y mucho tiempo despus de la fecha de la ltima letra en esta coleccin, cerraron un trato con su empleador ms adelante, H.P. Kraus. l revela en esta autobiografa que daba a la Sra. Nill $15.000 hacia el manuscrito (que ella haba heredado de Ethel) y puestos a la venta por $160.000. l dice que l vino con este nmero porque eso es lo que pide Wilfred antes WWI. Kraus iba a dividir la cantidad con Nill, pero no se la vendi antes de su muerte. Es un homenaje a l y su respeto por Anne, que ms bien de intentar vender la Sra. Voynich despus de que ella muri, l don a la Beinecke.

La sala de lectura del Club Grolier Lo que me impresiona ms en las Letras de Nill/Garland es que uno podra tener problemas para ver alguna diferencia en la emocin, el tipo de conclusiones variadas y conjeturas, la esperanza y sentido de una inminente solucin al problema, que encontramos en todos los intentos de Voynich en ocho dcadas desde que Anne Nill escribi sus palabras. Y no tengo ninguna duda de que pensamientos similares todava se escribir en el Voynich, igual Nill tena, y tienen todos los miles de otros, por siglos, debe todava no se solucion. Pero tambin me da una sensacin melanclica para la vida de Anne Nill y la persona que estaba. Ocup admirables normas para ella y su cabeza alta durante los momentos ms difciles, nunca abandonar las responsabilidades de empuje sobre ella y haciendo su mejor esfuerzo, con algunas quejas, hasta el final. Ella era una importante "guardin" de la Voynich, y ella una deuda para, como ella nunca perdi las

esperanzas. Y es esa esperanza, con gran costo personal para ella, que vio el manuscrito a travs de la tormenta de la depresin, para el hogar seguro que tiene hoy. Etiquetas: anne, club, ethel, grolier, manuscrito, nill, voynich, wilfred Posted in historia y procedencia | 6 Comentarios

Voynich en 1905?
19 De agosto de 2012

Actualizacin, 18 de junio de 2013: Ren Zandbergen haba sugerido que reviso que el Voynich archivos en la Biblioteca Beinecke, a ver si haba alguna Letras por o sobre Charles Singer. Finalmente tuve la oportunidad de hacerlo y encontr la siguiente carta. Es de la cantante, a Manly, fecha 11 de mayo de 1931. Entonces Varonil lo haba enviado a Anne Nill y Ethel Voynich: Manly, querido Profesor Parece haber un malentendido en Amrica mi opinin sobre el MS Voynich. Nunca he escrito nada sobre l, y cualquier observaciones puedo han hecho en conversacin representaron slo impresiones de un largo pasado evento. De lo que me dices, es obvio que el MS que yo recuerdo haber visto en Alemania hace muchos aos no pudo haber sido el Sr. Voynich. Aunque no saba el Sr. Voynich personalmente, he escuchado los informes ms altos de su integridad como hombre y como un distribuidor de quienes lo conocieron bien, y sera muy triste pensar a reflexionar sobre su memoria en nada lo que. Tuyo sinceramente, Charles Singer Para que esto se aclara el asunto. Fue un simple malentendido todo alrededor. El problema para m era que las colecciones de Voynich estn divididas entre la Beinecke y el Grolier Club, y as que la pregunta qued colgando al ver solamente el uno. Ethel estaba muy contento con la revelacin y agradeci a la cantante para aclarar la cuestin con una carta escrita a mano por el 26 de mayo: Profesor Manly ha enviado a m su carta muy amable, que el espritu generoso de que agradezco profundamente. Estoy seguro de que entenders mi que senta ansioso que cualquier confusin accidental de MS. mi esposo con algn otro debe ser aclarado, con el fin de evitar la posibilidad de cualquier malentendido penoso ms adelante. Su carta ha sido un gran alivio para mi mente, y le ruego que acepte mi agradecimiento para l.

Creme Atentamente, E.L. Voynich. Aunque la cuestin est resuelta ahora... Charles Singer nunca vio el Voynich antes de 1912, y Sierra realmente solamente copia, aos ms tarde... Dejo el post del blog para arriba (por ahora, al menos), de inters general. ***************************************************************************** ************* An no he terminado de redactar mis reflexiones sobre las Letras de Anne Nill y Herbert Garland en la coleccin de Grolier Voynich, pero antes, he estado ansioso relatar una historia muy interesante que descubr en esa correspondencia. Investigu esta historia... un rumor realmente... como mucho lo que pude, aqu en el estado de Nueva York y en internet, pero si se puede tomar cualquiera ms tendr que ser por alguien en Europa. An as, probablemente resultar ser un callejn sin salida, si es cierto o no, y nunca puede resolver. Pero las implicaciones de la rumor son lo suficientemente importantes como para explorar lo ms lejos posible, en mi opinin. La primera mencin de este tema es en la carta de Ana a Garland de fecha 18 de julio de 1930. Ella admite que la carta es "completa de las probabilidades y termina" y procede a discutir diferentes temas como pagos de seguro, debido a diferentes personas de dinero y as sucesivamente. Una persona a es Joseph Baer de Frankfurt, un comerciante muy conocido libro raro. Ella espera que la cuenta se paga, por lo que ella puede hacernos algunas preguntas sobre el siguiente incidente: "Esta maana profesor Thompson de la Universidad de Chicago llamado a decir que el cantante, que ha sido docente en los Estados Unidos, fue en Chicago donde l, Prof. Thompson, conoc y discute la cifra MS. con l. ha circulado en los Estados Unidos la historia que es un siglo XVI una especie de Paracelsan de la esclerosis mltiple. En este punto coment a profesor Thompson que pens que era increble que una persona que se present como un erudito podra hacer tales declaraciones sobre un MS. que nunca haba visto. "Que es justo, por qu vine a verte," dijo el profesor Thompson, afirma que ha visto l que hace 20 o 25 aos Baer de Frankfurt mostr a l y le dijo vino desde Praga. , Al parecer, es el origen de la teora de Paracelsan del cantante". Por supuesto es un rumor bastante impresionante. Es tambin, en mi opinin, una versin bastante slida y vale la pena mirar. Considerar que Thompson pens que era lo suficientemente importante como hacer una especial visita a Nill y nula fue lo suficientemente interesado tratar de averiguar si era cierto. La fecha de 1930 de la letra y el hecho de que Thompson fue previamente en Chicago, significa que el cantante afirm que Baer tena el Voynich desde 1905 a

1910. Aunque Voynich lo haba prestado a l, esto es anterior a 1912 "antiguo castillo en el sur de Europa" y "Villa Mondragone" afirma por al menos dos aos y tanto como siete. Pero por qu Voynich prestarlo a Baer en primer lugar? En los aos Voynich propiedad lo, fue muy cuidado a quien le permiti el acceso a las imgenes de la misma. Para dejarlo en Francfort, en manos de un competidor, parece poco probable. O realmente conseguirlo de Baer? Si es as, dnde Baer consigo?

Otra implicacin importante para esto es que Anne Nill estaba escribiendo esto durante el plazo de "Castillo en el origen del sur de Europa", pero sin embargo estaba dispuesto a desconfiar de su empleador recientemente fallecido, mentor y palabra de amigo en eso procedencia reclamado bastante tener sus orejas perk up y quiere investigar, cuando Thomson esto cay en su regazo. Y adems, aos ms tarde cuando ella dio informacin a Ricci para su catlogo... y ella y Ethel sustitucin "Villa Mondragone" para "antiguo castillo en el sur de Europa", all no estaba mencin de este viejo rumor de Frankfurt/Baer. Esto, aunque (como se ver) pareca algo insatisfecho con los resultados de su investigacin. Pero ella intent llegar al fondo de la misma, as incluso Nill pens la procedencia que Wilfred ofrecido era algo a la pregunta. Ella continu, "As que lo que quiero hacer, tan pronto como llegamos a cuenta de Baer colocado, si hay todava algo es debido, es escribirle una carta agradable tacto agradable e intentar conseguir de l lo que MS. realmente tenan, de Praga, de carcter Paracelsan, que ha demostrado a la cantante de 20 o 25 aos. Thompson seal que en el siglo 16tch DA. no fueron escritos en vitela, y que era mucho ms probable que nuestra MS. podra llegar a ser por Raymond Lully, que, dijo, ms o menos hecho cantante sentarse. "Por qu, nunca pens.", dijo S. El Crummers VI cantante en California, as que espero obtener la "verdad" real de l cuando los veo". Por alguna razn u otra, result que el "Crummers" no fueron capaces de iluminar a Anne en el tema de la cantante. Pero tambin parece que Anne intentaba razonar a la reclamacin de la cantante, por suponiendo que el manuscrito no pudo haber sido el amado "tocino", pero algunos otros. Esto parece ser un poco de racionalizacin por su parte, como Thomspon era evidente que el cantante era una conferencia sobre el Voynich, y Thompson y Nill fueron convencidos de que cantante no haba visto, o copias de la misma, mientras que en la posesin de la Voynichs. Las nicas opciones eran que la cantante haba visto otro manuscrito que confunde con el Voynich, o que estaba diciendo la verdad y vi en la posesin de Baer, 1905-1910. Pero, qu de esta cantante? Lo que sabemos, l saba de la Voynich? Esto es seguramente la misma Charles Joseph cantante (1876-1960) , quien disert, escribi y teoriz sobre la Sra.

Voynich es citado en la "The Voynich manuscrito - un elegante Enigma" de Mary D'Imperio de dos cartas que escribi en 1957. Uno, a Tiltman en noviembre de 1957, menciona las ideas Paracelsian, "mi propia sensacin-otra vez algo vaga sobre las pequeas figuras de hombres desnudos y mujeres en los rganos del cuerpo es que de alguna manera estn conectados con el 'archaei' de la escuela de Spagyric o Paracelsan. Esto encajara bien con mi sugerencia sobre John Dee y Bohemia." As que otra vez, o todava, en 1957, cantante est pensando "Praga" y "Paracelso". Una vez ms, tenemos opciones para determinar las implicaciones de esto. Cualquier cantante realmente vio Voynich en la posesin de Baer pre-1910 y siguieron creyendo como lo hizo desde el principio estos puntos; o que estaba equivocado y vio otro manuscrito con Baer (como Nill pareca esperar), que acaba de pasar a darle la misma impresin exacta como ms adelante, ahora se revel como la correcta, la Sra. Voynich hizo! Para l debe tener, por 1957, ver imgenes de la Voynich real. Creo que el Dr. Singer llev a cabo a la misma opinin expresada a Thompson en 1930, y en sus conferencias en aquel momento, completamente op de 1957, es un fuerte indicio de que l vio el manuscrito de Voynich real pre-1910. Anne Nill parece haber colocado cualquier cuenta que deban a Baer bastante rpidamente, para que al 21 de octubre de 1930, ella pudo informar a Garland, "Ayer tuve una respuesta de Baer a mi carta sobre el tema que dice: 'En cuanto a la pregunta que nos piden, no podemos recordar que tuvimos ningn manuscrito de Paracelsan y no podemos encontrar en las tarjetas de libros vendimos, cualquier referencia a tal manuscrito.' Parece hacerse cargo de la materia a menos que Baer prefiere mantenerse fuera de la materia para no ofender a un posible cliente. Me he referido (tal vez imprudentemente como s [sp?] creo) al hecho de que era cantante de Oxford, quien dijo que Baer y compaa tena la Sra. Paracelsan de Praga hace 25 aos, y que ha declarado que esa es nuestra Sra. de cifrado bien, de todos modos, escribi una carta con tacto y tal vez sea igual que el hecho est registrado en Alemania, porque Sudhoff tambin dijo que sera Paracelsan y l (no es un palegrafo) pudo haber tenido una opinin fija sobre l antes de que el pasado otoo, mir a la MS., como ustedes saben, l y el cantante han colaborado en algo u otros (por lo menos me parece recordar que tienen." Otra vez veo en eso un sentido Anne estaba esperando un "margen de maniobra" y deseando que el rumor no era cierto. Sin embargo, su razonamiento, parece delgado a m. Ella es otra vez con la esperanza que la cantante puede han llegado a sus conclusiones no de ver el Voynich antes de 1910, en Alemania, pero por tener discusiones con los dems, en una fecha posterior. La nica manera que esto podra ser sera llamar al cantante un mentiroso, sin embargo, que ella implica slo indirectamente. Cantante habra tenido que recuperar la historia, a Thompson y han venido discutiendo pblicamente la "Sra. cifrado" bajo falsos pretextos. No creo que esto es

as, por lo que he ledo de Charles Singer... que es, creo que l y Thompson fueron correctos y veraces.

Y, al mismo tiempo, ella parece poner en cuestin la credibilidad de Baer... insinuando que estaba mintiendo a ella, en orden "no para ofender a un posible cliente". De lo que he estado leyendo acerca de las prcticas internas de libro raro en este momento, con el rodeo de procedencia, el pelele de licitacin, las manipulaciones de precios en subasta, falsificaciones y engaos... No considero, como incluso Anne Nill aparentemente no, una pequea mentira acerca de poseer este manuscrito - Voynich-tan tan inusual por parte de Baer. Y si es as, quin era este "posible cliente"? Pensaba Nill, como lo hice cuando le esa lnea, de Wilfred s mismo? As que era palabra de Baer contra el cantante, en ese momento, y realmente, sigue siendo. Tal como est, yo veo este rumor como bastante creble. Realmente sera la nica forma de demostrar, como Nill probado, ese cantante vio un manuscrito diferente con Baer y esto lo llev a travs de los aos hasta que vio el Voynich real, y tampoco ha pasado a pensar lo mismo sobre ambos... una coincidencia increble, realmente... o que no quera destruir su credibilidad, y as cuando finalmente vio el manuscrito"correcto" simplemente aplica su teora anterior a l. Yo dudo tanto de esas posibilidades. Creo que hay algo para esto. Pero qu puedo hacer? Por un lado, result que tena acceso a los catlogos de Baer desde el primer volumen, en 1899, a travs de su fin, en la dcada de 1920, gracias a la biblioteca pblica de Nueva York. Estn disponibles en almacenamiento fuera del acuerdo anterior, por lo que por supuesto arregl it... y verlos en viernes, 17 de agosto de 2012. Pas un buen cuatro horas estudiando a travs de cada pgina, desde 1899 hasta 1914. Por supuesto no me lo esperaba ver el Voynich se listan aqu, aunque reconozco que me pregunt en que eso suceda. Quizs, pens, hubo alguna mencin de l bajo una descripcin diferente, o algunos otros Sra. que cantante podra haber confundido para l. Pero por supuesto ya que la preocupacin de Voynich debe haber tenido estos catlogos, imaginara que Anne Nill hizo exactamente lo mismo como lo hice el viernes pasado. Sin embargo, deba hacerse, as que lo hice. Fue una interesante manuscrito que vea en su catlogo de 1899, volumen 2-3, pgina 20... que describe (gracias a Ernest Lillie por su ayuda de la traduccin, que hice mi mejor esfuerzo para aclarar an ms), "Interesante manuscrito, mano de obra italiana. Contiene planta y animal-ilustraciones, dibujo ejecutado en pluma una acuarela, en orden alfabtico con notas nombres latinos. El dibujo es muy cuidadoso, muy realista, pero algo stilisirt [?]. Tenemos ante nosotros la fbrica de un artista que era considerado tal vez los apellidos de la naturaleza involuntaria de la simetra del

dibujo. La planta se representan a la mayora de ricos, el Cdice contiene cerca de 480 ilustraciones de la planta, sobre todo toda la altura de las hojas. . tomar entre unos 85 bestias son representados. Toda la obra es un propsito cientfico nota por todas partes pero hacen paradas en la alegra del Artista Visual y por inventar historias, y donde corresponda, acta en las miniaturas. tan con Cerasia pinta una cereza que son dos hombres que las cerezas un pelo de la mujer joven con flujo Rubio iniciar en el vestido levantado. balsamus est en un alto muro rodeado por un patio para mantener antes de su puerta dos guardas armados, y un tercero est en su escudo y se queda dormido. es seguido por un arco de vida silvestre proteger. Terebintus el rbol, "ex quo nascitur Terbentina" es un hombre en un barril de trementina absorbe etc., los puntos de costum para Italia, la arquitectura tiene que descompone las ventanas en el estilo del gtico alto, de los cientos de 14. " Claramente no la Voynich, pero o no este interesante manuscrito fue lo suficientemente similar como para confundir a cantante, es algo que debemos considerar. Tambin estara muy interesado en ver este trabajo, debera alguien reconocer de esta descripcin. No hubo nada ni remotamente cerca el Voynich que pude ver en estos catlogos.

Tambin mir para una Sra. de Paracelsan, que Baer dijo claramente que nunca propiedad o vendidos. Y Baer hizo propia y ofrecen varias copias de Paracelso, aunque no hay manuscritos que pude encontrar. Creo que el ngulo del catlogo se ha explorado suficientemente bien como para cerrar esa puerta. Pero eso no significa que se trata de un callejn sin salida. Lejos de ello, como yo siento que el rumor tiene suficientes credenciales para justificar la investigacin adicional. Si alguien leyendo esto est de acuerdo conmigo, y espero realmente hacen, tal vez podra buscan cualquier posibles colecciones de Joseph Baer y su empresa, tal vez en Frankfurt, para pruebas en cartas privadas y papeles, de nuestros "ms de cifrado".. Asimismo, los papeles del Dr. Charles Singer deban ser examinado, si estn disponibles, para mencionar el Voynich pre-1910. Creo que estos son dignos de misiones, teniendo en cuenta las enormes consecuencias de la rumor de Francfort de 1905 en el campo de la investigacin de Voynich.

Tags: anne, baer, libros, charles joseph, manuscrito, nill, raro, cantante, voynich Publicada en citas las VMs, historia y procedencia | 9 Comentarios

Las primeras fotocopias de Voynich?

15 De agosto de 2012

Comparacin notas - Original de la Sra. Photostats/moderno imgenes Me di cuenta de la posibilidad que la biblioteca pblica de Nueva York tena el original Photostats Wilfred Voynich conformado su manuscrito"tocino", mientras lea las cartas de Anne Nill en 24 de julio de 2012. Les seal a partir de 1930, y cmo ella y Ethel enviar personas a la biblioteca para ver el manuscrito en esta forma de copia, en lugar de over-handling original-que guardaron en una caja de seguridad. An as, ellos restriccin el acceso a estos ejemplares, permitiendo slo a aquellos que pensaban que podra ayudarles a la atribucin a Roger Bacon, de cemento o de lo contrario descifrar la secuencia de comandos o resolver el misterio. Incluso hablaron de recuperacin de la biblioteca en un momento, pero luego, unos aos ms tarde, Nill ms relacin que decidieron dejar la biblioteca mantenerlos. Pero no aparecen en los catlogos de la biblioteca hoy. Fue a travs de mi solicitud para el Departamento de manuscritos que la biblioteca les busc desde sus archivos. Parece que han sido un poco olvidados por la comunidad de Voynich exterior, aunque por supuesto la biblioteca era consciente de que estaban all. No parece que se han examinado en aos o incluso dcadas. Este sistema parece ser el primer conjunto de Seventeen, o al menos uno de los primeros puestos del manuscrito. Wilfred vino a Estados Unidos en el brote de WWI e instal aqu poco despus. Estaba muy interesado en tener las imgenes disponibles para los investigadores y

parece haber hecho este conjunto por las ltimas adolescencias o aos 20 tempranos. Por desgracia sin son fecha. Pero incluido dentro de la caja estn en es un conjunto de algunas pginas de la copia de Voynich de Ri "De militares" de Valturius, y el jefe de los archivos incluye una carta diciendo que preparaba esas copias en noviembre de 1929. Tal vez estas fotostatos del manuscrito de Voynich elabor tambin, en aquel momento, pero lo dudo, como Newbold y otros haban visto fotocopias de los aos 20 tempranos. No puedo decir con certeza sin comparacin al conjunto de Newbold en Pennsylvania, pero me imagino estas fecha a la hora de su mnimo y ya escribi de la Voynich por 1921. A continuacin se muestran varias observaciones que hice mientras cuidadosamente que compara cada pgina con la corriente moderna, JPEG y Sid ofrecida la Beinecke. F1r-las qumicas manchas pueden estar all, pero son dbiles y menos evidente que en el JPG y SID. La "firma" de todos modos es moderadamente visible. "E" al final de "Tepence" parece ser un capital, o al menos tiene un lazo inferior no es visible en la actualidad. Aparte de eso, se ve la misma como vemos hoy, si no un poco ms oscuro. Ser pequeo en esta copia y no tiene un medio de ampliarlo, es difcil comparar a lo que tenemos ahora. Cadenas visibles en la Unin, en la parte superior. Algn tipo de cuero de la espina dorsal doblada hacia atrs. La letra "columna" lado derecho aparece ms oscura en la Seventeen que ahora. F10v-el rasgn en 9v es visible a exactamente la misma fotostatos de grado en la original, como en el moderno SID. Esto implica que el estado de la Unin cerca de 80 aos. Sin embargo, ms de f16r... el "1", aparece tras el tiro de f11r en el moderno JPG. F13r - en este tiro, hay insertado un trozo en blanco de papel detrs de l. En lpiz notacin es, "No Pgina 12". Nota: Despus de este punto, el fabricante de las PHOTOSTATS parece que han continuado a insertar el papel detrs de la pgina, para evitar fotografiar los bordes de las pginas subsiguientes ms all de ellos. No en todos, pero en muchas copias. F14v & F15r-manchas son evidentes en los PHOTOSTATS, en la parte superior de las pginas, como en los PEID moderno. No encontr ninguna mancha en ejemplares modernos que no estaba en estos principio Seventeen... que es, no parece haber sufrido una tincin ya que estas fotos fueron tomadas. F17r-la imagen de "floral" que se superpone el nmero 17 es sorprendentemente ms oscura en los PHOTOSTATS. Parece que se han desvanecido bastante. Las lneas parecen ms delgadas ahora, demasiado. La mancha alrededor de l tambin es ms oscura en los PHOTOSTATS. Por qu? El proceso fotogrfico diferente puede representar alguna diferencia en cambio, pero la

informacin parece no estar all, ya, sea cual sea el mtodo utilizado. Ms importante an, la marginalia en la parte superior de la pgina es mucho ms claro en la PHOTOSTATS - por ejemplo, aunque ms pequeo que puede hacerse agrandando el SID, la "aw" al final es oscuro, ntida y clara. La "horca" en la segunda a la ltima palabra es luz, pero todava ms oscuro que el SID y ms obvio. Las Letras de marginalia han claramente desapareci, tambin y bajo la mancha ms de todo. F38v-la "mancha o mancha en esta pgina, que aparece en la parte superior y a la izquierda de la planta, parece ser caracteres en la Seventeen, mientras que tambin se desvaneci para discernir sobre el SID moderno. Parece ser "4an" F40r-similar al caso anterior, el dedo pequeo entre las dos races derecha inferiores en el SID, es mucho ms oscuro y parece ser una cruz o un personaje de la voynichese "4". F58v - A trazada nota, "f65 sigue 58"-lo que hace, por supuesto. F67r - manchar a la derecha del nmero de pgina "67" es ms oscuro y ms claro en las PHOTOSTATS y parece ser "67" con otro personaje pequeo despus de l (una "e"?) y todos tachado con una lnea. En el SID, esto es ilegible. Rueda de F67r3 es "cortar" ms corto en el JPG y SID. Los fotostatos muestra varias palabras y ms de la rueda, que no las versiones modernas. Si esto es debido a un pliegue en las fotos ms nuevas, o si una tira de la pgina se separ y desapareci desde el Seventeen fueron tomadas, no puedo decir sin ver el original. He dibujado las pocas palabras visibles, si alguien est interesado en verlos. F72v3-en el SID y el JPG, el lado izquierdo del "Zodiaco Len" no aparece, mientras que claramente se fotografi en el Seventeen. La aleta fue retenida por un clip... todava existe esta aleta, o modernas copiadoras simplemente fallaron desplegarlo? Muestra de ese crculo para el aro exterior y claramente muestra a cuatro mujeres ms con estrellas, junto con la escritura asociada. Notacin F73v-lpiz, "sigue a 75 73", lo que hace. 85v1 - la PHOTOSTATS muestra un papel detrs de la derecha, como si se separa en este borde - mi entendimiento fue que esto est ahora conectado/limite a lo largo de este borde. Por qu no puedo hacer la diferencia... un pliegue? No s la construccin lo suficientemente bien como para compararse los dos posibles. Nota: Los PHOTOSTATSs se separan aqu con una lmina de cartn y son las siguientes cuatro pginas en una sola hoja, entonces las pginas de rosetas todo estn en ms de dos.

Las pginas de rosetas: copia muy bonito, sorprendentemente claro. sos privado para examinar estos Seventeen pginas realmente no eran en gran parte de una prdida. La nitidez y claridad de ellos es realmente a la par de los PEID y realmente los supera en algunos aspectos. Las rosetas son un buen ejemplo... la image de "Volcn" reciente de Beinecke se ve aqu, casi en su totalidad. La segunda fundacin de torre "Torre en el agujero" est adems aqu, mientras que slo recientemente se vio nuevamente en la imagen ms reciente muy lanzada. Nota F90r-lpiz, "p 93 sigue p 90", lo que hace. F93r-lpiz nota, "p 93 sigue 90", dem. F94v desplegable - las dos primeras hojas son lpiz marcada, "95 1 + 2". F95v-trazada en cuenta, "p 99 sigue 96", lo que hace. 101v2-esto se denomina "101 4" en la Seventeen. All tambin pasa a ser una nota, "habitacin 319" trazada en esto - la sala de la NYPL acaso originalmente guardado o producido? F103r-el "blur" en la esquina inferior derecha de la SID moderna parece ser ms distinto en los PHOTOSTATS y parece ser varios personajes de la voynichese, incluyendo un "8"... pero estos son difciles de distinguir. F107v a travs de f111r, han dibujado notas, "p. 111 sigue 108", que lo hacen. Ms notas: casilla marcada con impreso, etiqueta naranja brillante, "RESTRICTED. NO SIRVEN A LOS LECTORES". Se ve bastante moderno, aunque el cuadro es viejo. En el papel de envolver, en marcador mgico, es "VOYNICH Roger Bacon Ms.", dos veces, luego en lpiz grueso: "Sra. de Voynich de Roger Bacon - restringida" (dos veces subrayada "Restringida"). Resumen: No es nada de sorpresa y no hay pginas que faltan encontradas, en este muy temprano... posiblemente el ms temprano... conjunto de fotostatos del pozo de la Sra. Voynich, quizs si la parte invisible del f67r3 (vase ms arriba) es realmente falta ahora, entonces que es una porcin que fue preservada por estas copias. Pero lo que realmente ms me sorprende es que en esta fecha temprana, fue este conjunto de imgenes que eran tan clara y completa. Son mucho mejores que lo que tenamos slo unos aos atrs, antes de los JPGs y SID. No estoy seguro dnde provenan de las imgenes en el libro de D'Imperio y varios artculos,... pero si fueran de este conjunto principal, entonces quien hace las copias de ellos hicieron un trabajo muy pobre. Son incluso mejores que byn ofrecidos ms adelante por la Beinecke. Pero tambin de la nota es apenas como poco, si acaso, el manuscrito ha cambiado en los aos 80... casi una tercera parte ms de su vida se ha agregado, y se ha manejado mucho ms en este tiempo, probablemente, que en su falta 300 aos entre Marci y Voynich. Y si los pocos aparentemente descoloraron caracteres pueden explicarse por diferencias en el proceso de la

foto, o incluso por aplicacin de productos qumicos o indebida manipulacin en esos lugares, entonces el manuscrito ha mantenido bien bajo todos su escrutinio moderno. Pero an as, a pesar de estar tan cerca de la condicin de hoy, existen pequeas diferencias. Hay posiblemente ms diferencias que no se dio cuenta, de hecho debe existir. Por esa razn estos Seventeen pasan con inters en su propio derecho. Una vez eran simplemente una herramienta para evitar la manipulacin de la original, pero ahora se congele en tiempo el manuscrito como fue visto por primera vez en tiempos modernos. Estoy seguro de que muchos investigadores encontrarn diferentes reas para comparar y en ms detalle, que tengo en mi Resumen de 5 horas. Otra consideracin es que hay algunos daos en la Seventeen, debido al desabastecimiento utilizado... algunas manchas, posiblemente desde el fixer y sepia. Estn en el papel, que no soy es de calidad y envuelto en papel marrn, que tambin no puede ser bueno. Tal vez la NYPL considerara invertir en algn buen microfilm o Seventeen copias digitales de estos, por lo que puede ser mejor conservaron como son. Esto tambin permitira a hacerse ms ampliamente disponible y posiblemente para descargar. Tienen un gran valor como un hito en la vida de Voynich-una instantnea literal de lo que muchos de los que primero escribi sobre el Voynich realmente vieron cuando llegaron a sus conclusiones. Rich SantaColoma, agosto de 2012. Tags: biblioteca, manuscrito, nuevos pblicos, voynich, york Publicado en Uncategorized | 5 Comentarios

El mecanismo de Antikythera de manuscritos

27 De mayo de 2012

Como salieron de la reciente Conferencia de Voynich 100 en la Villa Mondragone en Frascati, Italia, me encontr pensando en algunos viejos problemas en nuevas formas. Probablemente ms til para organizar mis pensamientos fue mi entrevista de Lisa Jackson y Bob Aschmann, el domingo despus de la Conferencia. Piden algunas viejas y nuevas preguntas, tan pronto despus de la reunin y discutiendo todo Voynich bajo el sol, me permitido organizar mis pensamientos en algunas formas nuevas y diferentes. Era una especie de sesin de terapia de Voynich. Una pregunta era por qu no se ha resuelto el Voynich. Es decir, en trminos muy sencillos, se podra decir, "porque es realmente, realmente, duro". Pero la pregunta es, qu hace diferente a otros problemas difciles? Por qu han sido incapaces de romper ste las herramientas habituales de beca? O no el problema primordial es incapaz de definir por lo menos, si uno acepta leerlo? Es decir, ni siquiera sabemos lo que es. Bien, hay quienes le dir que si saben lo que es y lo que es no, por supuesto, generalmente aadiendo el "inusual" descargo de

responsabilidad antes de la sugerencia. Pero realmente, nadie est satisfecho, o esto sera largo. As que por qu no al menos sabemos lo que es, con certeza? En la entrevista, mi respuesta a la pregunta "por qu?"fue, "Porque creo que el Voynich reside fuera de becas existentes".

nico: como el Voynich? Beca no experimentar, no imagina. Slo, compara, contrasta y catlogos. En casi todos los casos, esto funciona, porque casi todo el mundo y todo el conocimiento dentro de ella, existe en algn lugar en beca conocida. Pero tal vez, no en el caso de Voynich - y esto entonces explicara la prdida de la beca para explicarlo. "Lo del Voynich realmente" no es ah, y por lo tanto, la beca no puede resolverlo. Ciertamente no ha y tal vez no lo harn jams. A menudo me he preguntado por qu los eruditos han rechazado varios conceptos he propuesto y algunos aparentemente (para m) rechaz propuestas razonables, de sentido comn de los dems. No poda entender por qu ptica y fantasa se amonton con extranjeros y crculos de los cultivos. Y luego, al mismo tiempo, esos mismos eruditos han aceptado algn otro, aparentemente (para m) conceptos extraos... que relacionar no, aqu. Pero no pude equiparo a los dos juicios aparentemente dispares. Ahora, creo que tengo una idea de por qu. Creo que mi incapacidad para comprender este efecto, esta "desconexin" como yo lo veo, estaba en mi mirada en todos las ideas sugeridas por Voynich, todas las teoras, en una escala deslizante,

emprica de "normal" a "bizarro", mientras que al mismo tiempo, pudiendo ver una distincin importante, divisiva,: Ideas aceptadas por estudiosos y becas, no importa cmo indignante, se ensamblan de ejemplos de becas existentes; rechazado ideas siempre existen fuera de la beca aceptada. Y "fuera de la beca" para un estudioso dedicado, simplemente significa que no puede ser. Sin una categora o ejemplo existente para comparar, beca cree una idea imposible. Bueno, puedo comparar varios conceptos dentro de la beca, pero no ejemplos existentes, y sin duda en su conjunto, mis ideas no encajan en cualquier categora existente. Sospecho ptica, por ejemplo y es sealado hay ningn otro manuscrito ptico 1610-1620, o incluso un lugar para uno. Veo vitela antiguo uso, post C14, y me dicen la beca no permitirlo, as una situacin es raro o desconocido. An no existe una categora para trabajos sobre papel vitela viejo, y cuando se encuentran ejemplos, beca tiende a digerirlos como errores o anomalas sin importancia. "Vacas prpura", por as decirlo. Y cuando veo un manuscrito creado como un artefacto de cientfico, utpico, ficcin, como una especie de "vivir libro M"... es correctamente seal que no puedo encontrar otro trabajo real para comparar. Otra vez, no hay ninguna categora para dicho documento, como el trabajo no se sabe que existe; slo se describen en la ficcin. Y cuando os muestro otros trabajos que fueron creadas para que parezca ms viejos textos, como el manuscrito de Chittenden, se seala, con precisin, que existen en su propia categora, que mi caso no cabe. Y por supuesto, beca no crear una categora por lo que sospecho que es el Voynich, "Un artefacto nacido de utpico literatura cientfica", hasta que se prueba. Yo entiendo que. Y por lo tanto es un crculo vicioso, un "Catch 22", para mis teoras y propuestas. Hice una diapositiva de PowerPoint para el final de mi presentacin de Voynich 100, que se me borraba la maana de la Conferencia. Desde entonces he estado triste que me lo quitaron. En el momento que quera limitar mi presentacin a tres conceptos bsicos. La diapositiva borrada presentaba un cuarto, aunque simple y titulado, "El mecanismo de Antikythera de manuscritos?" El Mecanismo de Antikythera es que un dispositivo griego, una alta complejidad, orientado ordenador astronmico mecnico, ahora datado del siglo i AEC. Antes de que se comprob, no se saba que los griegos, o cualquier cultura por lo dems, sera remotamente capaces de construir tal cosa en su tiempo... y en realidad, incapaz de al menos 1800 aos. La beca entera de los griegos, de proto-ciencia y ciencia y de la astronoma y la mecnica del engranaje, no tena una categora para dicho dispositivo. Cuando se encuentran, existi fuera conocido beca. Ha ocurrido a m, que si el mecanismo de Antikythera cayeron en el regazo de becas existente como una papa caliente, sin el naufragio fue encontrado, beca hubieran fallado en identificar correctamente. Nos habra dichos que era probablemente un muy avanzado 19th siglo dispositivo. Esto, porque no haba ninguna categora, cuando se encuentra, para un siglo XXI A.C., compleja, haba orientado ordenador astronmico mecnico. De hecho, beca creado esa categora slo a regaadientes, como muchos en el momento de su descubrimiento cree que el dispositivo debe han cado mucho ms tarde en el pecio BCE. Y se sealan que el mecanismo es

el nico dispositivo en la categora muy hecho para l de Antikythera. Es increblemente, descaradamente, verdaderamente: uno de una clase.

nico: como el mecanismo de Antikythera? Se puede sealar que el naufragio, en el que se encontr el mecanismo de Antikythera, fecha de hecho el dispositivo. Y esto significa que las becas existentes, en forma de arqueologa marina, ha trabajado en ese sentido. Y adems, podra sugerirse que existe una analoga entre el naufragio y el C14 Voynich citas... y reclamacin, una vez ms, que la beca, con la aceptacin y el conocimiento de la datacin por carbono y dendrocronologa, ha trabajado en nuestro caso. Pero que podra contrarrestar los errores de ambos yo y otros, hemos encontrado en los supuestos de "uso de viejas prcticas de vitela", fcilmente que el Voynich podra haber hecho en viejo vitela, permite que las pruebas actuales de procedencia y tinta en el Voynich no no permitir esto y por ltimo, que ignorar la llamativa semejanza de muchos cilindros de Voynich a principios de los microscopios, es, en efecto, haciendo caso omiso de la beca de microscopios tempranos y no utilizarlo como una comparacin. Y ' redondo y ' ronda vamos otra vez. Puedo encontrar, dentro de las becas existentes, excepciones a los argumentos en contra de mi teora. Pero sin una categora para colocar el Voynich en, como preveo, o ejemplos reales de lo que propongo es, esas excepciones no se permitir por beca. Qu es hay que hacer, como persigo esto? Por supuesto seguir utilizan conocidas becas para la investigacin. Aunque creo que no ha podido dar una respuesta, ni aceptado, hasta ahora, espero que pueda encontrar algunos otro tal artefacto como sospecho Voynich para ser,

calificaron, o como no categorizado. Tal vez haya algn libro, objeto o dispositivo, o Descripcin del mismo, que tambin surgi de las mismas influencias que sospecho influido en la creacin del Voynich. Y si por lo tanto, tal vez resultar no est solo en su propia caja, como el mecanismo de Antikythera es sin duda. Pero mientras tanto, mientras buscaba ese ejemplo, o esperando y esperando una traduccin que pone la pregunta para descansar, se ver en el Voynich en la categora que he creado para l. Tal vez nunca se aceptarn mi nueva categora y otros ejemplos de no encontrarse nunca, y tal vez la voluntad de Voynich nunca ser probado que creo que es. Y no puede muy bien ser aquello, por supuesto. Pero todava no estoy satisfecho con cualquier cosa en la lista de propuestas que becas existentes aceptarn o ha propuesto, por lo que debo continuar a buscar en otros lugares. Etiquetas: antikythera, manuscrito, mecanismo, voynich Publicado en fantasa, ptica, Rosacruces | 10 Comentarios

Un volcn en el Voynich?
21 De abril de 2012

La mejor manera encontrar respuestas a un problema difcil es hacer las preguntas adecuadas y las adecuadas son generalmente nuevos. Preguntas el mismo viejo, una y otra vez, conseguir una nada, ya que generalmente producen las mismas respuestas. En el caso de Voynich, debe haber miles, si no millones, de buenas preguntas que hasta ahora han ido unasked. En las respuestas a estas preguntas pueden ser las pepitas de oro que acercarnos a las respuestas que esperamos. Hace un ao, Tim Tattrie le pregunt a uno de esas buenas preguntas y obtuvo una respuesta muy interesante y potencialmente valiosa. l estaba mirando en el desplegable de rosetones, como miles que tena delante de l. Pero Tim preguntaba cul podra ser el resto de la montaa, una en la superior derecha roseta. No asumi lo que era, quera saber. As escribi el personal Beinecke y les pregunt si abra un poco la tapa y tomar una fotografa. Graham Sherriff del personal de Yale rpidamente le envi la imagen. En el momento le dijeron que las nuevas imgenes se incluirn en la base de datos en lnea, pero pasaron un ao o ms, y no consiguieron alrededor de l. Para que Tim me pidi que anunciar el hallazgo, como sinti que podra ser de valor e inters para otros. De acuerdo.

Bajo el pliegue de rosetas Como veis, mucho fue revelado "bajo el pliegue" de esta zona. No slo la montaa revel que, de hecho, sera un volcn, pero tambin, la rampa como rea que sube desde la ciudad ahora muestra algunos edificios ms. Me gustara que esto tena cuando hice mis rosetas 3D... y en realidad puedo aadir el "Volcn" y encontrar edificios, en una nueva versin.

Es un volcn? Bien por supuesto esto no puede ser un volcn. Tim es pragmtico sobre l y no se compromete a como una identidad absoluta. Yo tampoco, como poda ser muchas cosas. El Voynich tienen varios tubos que tambin parecen "vomitar" distintas sustancias. Son y esto signific que el gas? Aire? Agua? La quintaesencia? Tal vez esto pretende ser una fuente natural o pozo artesiano. Y el efluente no es rojo o "caliente" en modo alguno es azul, como el agua. Pero tengo que decir que parece mucho como un volcn para m. Tambin uno podra asumir que esto no pretende ser que una montaa en absoluto y eso es quede plana, como un desage y as sucesivamente. No creo. Se ilustra tanto como las otras alturas de la pgina de rosetas y la intencin parece ser lo que implica una colina o montaa. El lector es agradable estar en desacuerdo, por supuesto.

Qu es ese efluente, entonces? Por supuesto como muchos nuevos descubrimientos en el Voynich, contestadas por estas nuevas preguntas, ste plantea interrogantes an ms nuevas. Que est todo bien, creo. Y tambin, cuando vemos esta nueva informacin, tengamos una sensacin frustrante, no estamos seguros "qu" es lo que nos dice que nos dice algo importante, por mritos propios...! Para m, yo no perder la oportunidad de sealar un par de consecuencias. Por un lado, me doy cuenta que ha habido varios lugares reales sugeridos para la roseta derecha superior. Uno de ellos ha sido Miln. Creo que el descubrimiento de esta montaa arrojar, probablemente de un volcn, podra justificar una reconsideracin de la mayora de la especulacin anterior de esta roseta como varios lugares. Si uno va a pensar de las rosetas como un lugar real, de hecho... una idea que rechazo enrgicamente, como creo que es una tierra de fantasa... pero si van a mirar los castillos, pasarelas y Torres como real, entonces uno debe ahora buscar un lugar que contenga un arrojar montaa o volcn. Y si uno busca tal fuente, sera mejor en un monte imponente. Y buena suerte con eso.

Volcn Kircher de "Mundus Suberraneus" Pero lo que podra ser valiosa es mirar la historia de vulcanologa, y tambin, cmo volcanes han percibido en la mitologa y ficcin. Conociendo a las personas, en diferentes momentos en la historia, y cmo han sido ilustrados y con qu propsito, significan volcanes sern potencialmente valiosa para entender las rosetas bajo una nueva luz. Personalmente creo que el hallazgo de Tim Tattrie es uno muy importante, no slo para la ilustracin real que fue descubierta en este uno caso, pero para lo que nos dice que debemos hacer en el futuro... que no podemos seguir pidiendo a las mismas viejas preguntas, pero tenemos que intentar buscar nuevas preguntas de manera novedosa. Estoy seguro de que muchas otras sorpresas nos esperan si lo hacemos. Etiquetas: rosetas, volcn, voynich Publicada en citas las VMs, fantasa, Uncategorized | 12 Comentarios

Prueba de concepto
09 De marzo de 2012

Una prueba de concepto es un ejemplo de una situacin similar a la que son teorizacin que demuestra que algn elemento de esa teora puede ser posible. Realmente no prob la teora. Realmente no avanzar la teora en s mismo. Lo que hace es refutar, en diversos grados, la oposicin o queja que su teora no puede ser posible. A qu nivel muestra luego la plausibilidad de la teora es un asunto de la conjetura, no realmente cuantificable y sujeto a muchos factores... algunos muy subjetiva. Pero una prueba de concepto sigue siendo muy valiosa, como se mueve una teora en el Reino de la posibilidad. Tengo una lista de varias pruebas de concepto para mi ptica y las teoras de la Nueva Atlntida, que abordan muchas quejas sobre esa teora. Pero recientemente me encontr con un nuevo y ejemplo muy importante, que se ocupa de

varias de las ms comunes y generalizados negativos, lo expresado por los que no creen que la teora probablemente, o incluso, posibles. Aqu est una lista de algunas de las objeciones a mi teora, que todos son tratadas por este reciente hallazgo de la mina: 1. Nadie hara un libro para ver cientos de aos mayores que. 2. Vitela era demasiado caro de uso para todos, pero las razones ms importantes y real. 3. La habilidad y el tiempo que llevara a hacer un libro de vitela grande significara que fue hecho slo por escribas dedicados. 4. Vitela en blanco siempre ha sido muy raro y ms adelante ms all de ella es apogeo, el ms raro. Y entonces encontr el libro de Chittenden. Irnicamente, no que buscaba incluso para l, que buscaba en otro libro de la coleccin de Lucius Chittenden en la Universidad de Vermont.

Lucius Eugene Chittenden naci el 24 de mayo de 1824, en Vermont Williston. Se convirti en un abogado, un historiador, defensor de la paz, abolicionista, banquero, funcionario del Departamento del Tesoro estadounidense, amigo de Abraham Lincoln... y prolfico book collector y amante. Llevaba al menos dos viajes a Europa, no casual hazaa en el siglo XIX. Primero vine a travs de la coleccin de hombre porque l pas a poseer un manuscrito que considero muy similar al Voynich. Este "italiano hierbas" (ver enlace), es atribuido a finales del siglo XV y dos manos. El estilo general, colorante y el hbito de escribir alrededor de los dibujos de hierbas, me

parece sorprendentemente cerca el Voynich. Como un interesante aparte de la "cola de C14 que sacuden al perro", esta muy similar a base de hierbas es soslayado a menudo como un ejemplo en la investigacin de Voynich, ya que es "demasiado tarde". Pero fue este prrafo, en la biografa del Sr. Chittenden, que salt a m, "Uno de los libros ms fascinantes de la coleccin es su propia traduccin de Les Singularitez de la France Antrtica por Thevet (Pars, 1558)."El volumen es trabajo de Chittenden totalmente excepto el atascamiento de Marruecos fina. Hecho de 100 hojas de papel vitela en la impresin de distintivos de la mano de Chittenden, con iniciales multicoloras, pgina completa lnea dibujos en tinta y figuras marginales de soldados, aves y animales... (Buechler, pp. 45)." Y que es el libro que yo he extrado las muestras en este post. No aparecen en cualquier otro lugar en internet, ni, al parecer, se reproducen en cualquier libro. Y entonces, me gustara sealar, en este ejemplo no ser un tema de cualquier estudio, en cualquier Universidad y sera a cualquier experto que fue consultado sobre el tema de "libros sobre vitela hecho para parecer mayores de lo que eran". Es parte de lo que yo he estado aprendiendo es una nueva disciplina, ms o menos indocumentada, y que se encuentra solo. Yo slo sospecha, cuando empez a buscar, que la categora de libro debe existir, aunque yo he sido, y todava am dijo, que no quiso y no, existen: un manuscrito ilustrado, coloreado como recreacin/adaptacin de una obra mayor, en vitela, hecho para parecer mucho mayor de lo que es.

( shhh! Esto no existe.) As que por qu Chittenden hizo este trabajo? Supongo que podramos deducir fcilmente amaba el original y quera producir su propia copia. Pero luego tom el tiempo para traducir al ingls (es un maravilloso Lee, por cierto y deba ser publicado en su totalidad). Pero al hacer este trabajo, decidi hacerlo sobre papel vitela. Lo hizo, otra vez supongo, para hacerla parecer viejo, como el original. Y donde se encontraron 100 hojas de papel vitela inusitado, en 1868? Mi investigacin anterior muestra que vitela en blanco siempre debi ser disponible, y s que es, an hoy, as que no estoy demasiado sorprendido por esto. Tal vez l consigui en uno de sus viajes a Europa, o tal vez encontr un stock viejo en los Estados Unidos. Pero ah est, lo encontr. Y adems, encontr tiempo para hacerlo. Esto era un hombre muy ocupado, por cualquier otra norma. As en lugar de le necesidad de dedicar aos o dcadas para producirlo, logr servir Lincoln, Hacienda, su familia, escribir varios importantes historias sobre la guerra

civil, la esclavitud y la poltica en general... y, en el lado, escribir e ilustrar una copia de pgina 200 a 300 ms el libro del ao de edad y en vitela en aquel.

As que, qu significa esto para mis teoras? Bien no por supuesto prueba nada directamente. Pero lo que hace es mostrar que varios de los conceptos que son necesarios para aceptar la posibilidad de la teora, fueron realmente utilizados, histricamente, por otros. Por supuesto este ejemplo es de un rato ms ltimo que sospecho que el Voynich fue creado, por 268 aos. Y no sabemos cuando este vitela hizo... aunque encantara ver una datacin C14 de it... y por lo que no es compatible con mi contencin que vitela antiguo se han utilizado para el Voynich. Pero tengo otros ejemplos que hacen eso. Qu es que la mayora es que Chittenden quera hacer un libro mirada 300 aos ms viejo de lo que realmente era, aunque sospecho que slo unos 150 a 200 aos para el Voynich.

Mis otras "pruebas de concepto" han sido subrayados en otros puestos de trabajo en este blog: la boda de complemento es un libro de ficcin en mi tiempo, y cifrado y signific para parecerse a un trabajo ms viejo; Luego estn mis ejemplos de vitela en blanco ah, histricamente, listo

para usar e incluso, utilizado durante siglos (reforzados, otra vez, por este nuevo ejemplo); el bajo costo de vitela, histricamente; el uso de falsos libros como apoyos y formas de arte, de finales del siglo XVI, a hoy... y ahora aadir el libro Chittenden, que es un ejemplo perfecto, real de un amante del libro encontrar suficiente vitela en blanco a la carta e ilustrar su propia copia de un libro de 300 ao de edad. Sin duda habr objeciones... por supuesto soy consciente de ellos, yo, en eso me doy cuenta de lo que esto demuestra y lo que no hace. Pero en este momento, para que cualquiera pueda postular que "no puede ser" el Voynich hace Cundo y por qu razones que sospecho que es, o incluso, que es "poco probable" que esto es as, realmente no tiene la carga de la prueba desde su perspectiva, no la ma. Etiquetas: chittenden, copia, ilustrado, lucius, manuscrito, thevet, vitela, voynich Publicado en Uncategorized | 2 Comentarios

Prospero, quin eres t?

21 De noviembre de 2011

Es popular para ejecutar al rostro histrico del famoso mdico, astrlogo y scrier, John Dee, como una probable influencia cuando el estereotipo de los barbudos, crystal gazing y Asistente de toga que aparece en la literatura o mitologa. Dee ha sugerido para nueva Atlantis de Salomn de Francis Bacon, prspero de la tempestad, Fausto de las leyendas de Fausto y muchos otros personajes como asistente similares durante siglos. Y no cabe duda de que ha sido la mayor influencia en el arquetipo mago/asistente/alquimista/nigromante... pero es siempre correcto ver slo a l como nica fuente?

John Dee: El (casi) mago icono Universal

John Dee se ha sugerido como una inspiracin para el personaje de Solomon, el lder de la utopa cientfica ficticia de Bensalem, en la Nueva Atlntida. Pero Rosalie Colie, en su artculo de 1955, Cornelis Drebbel y Solomon de Caus: dos modelos jacobea para casa de Salomon (Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 18, N 3, mayo de 1955), omite Dee. En cambio sugiri que la utopa de Salomn de Bacon podra haber sido parcialmente inspirada por Cornelis Drebbel, el alquimista e inventor y su contemporneo, Solomon De Caus. Esto puede ser correcto en parte, por las razones que le ha dado. Sobre todo su argumento se basa en los inventos y experimentos descrito en Bensalem, y en el ella tiene un punto. Pero en lugar de modelo para el lder de la Nueva Atlntida, creo personalmente que Drebbel es ms probable es que el modelo para el personaje que relata la historia, que visita la isla con su compaero ser nufragos. Me siento as por varias razones. En primer lugar, a la realidad: Drebbel fue invitado a la corte de Rudolf II a presentar el emperador con uno de sus relojes de movimiento perpetuo, que eran la rabia de Europa en el momento. Una vez all, Drebbel lleg a ser alquimista jefe de Rudolf y tambin, supuestamente, el director y creador de los reales fuegos artificiales muestra. En 1612, despus el hermano de Rudolf Matthias haba usurpado a Rudolf, Drebbel fue encarcelado brevemente y casi ejecutado. Fue con la promesa de vuelta, en una carta del rey James, que Drebbel fue permitido volver con seguridad a Londres... junto con, significativamente, una recompensa de 1.000 ducados.

Cornelis Drebbel: El icono de mago (a veces) Ahora se espera que esta estada fatal cerca de Drebbel sera familiar a Bacon... y todo el tiempo que Bacon fue aparentemente formular el concepto de la Nueva Atlntida. De hecho, los dos hombres tenan habitaciones del Palacio de Eltham, Drebbel por sus experimentos en perpetuo movimiento, hidrulica y refrigeracin artificial; Bacon for... bien no deseamos sabamos exactamente? Pero se ha informado de que "tena habitaciones" y por eso hubiera sido familiar con Drebbel y sus experimentos. Pero no tiene que adivinar, como Bacon escribir de varias de ellas... es, el enfriamiento experimentos y barcos bajo el agua. Y, por supuesto, como seala Colie, muchos de estos inventos aparecen en la Nueva Atlntida. En cualquier caso, existe un paralelismo entre el protagonista/Relator de la historia de la Nueva Atlntida y Drebbel. Ambos hombres desaparecieron y visitaron un lugar donde la ciencia y los experimentos fueron financiados por el estado. Ambos volvieron a informar sobre sus experiencias all y ambos recibieron una recompensa del estado al salir de su... Drebbel, como he dicho, 1.000 ducados y el narrador de la Nueva Atlntida, 2.000 ducados.

Rudolf II (no solicitadas) icono de mago Pero entonces si no Drebbel o DeCaus, que Salomn, el lder y fundador de Bensalem, ser modelados en? Creo que es muy probable que se basa en Rudolf II que John Dee o Drebbel o De Caus Como Rudolf, Salomn pas la suerte de la nacin en la bsqueda del conocimiento y recogidos y honra a aquellos que lograron grandes cosas. El autor de la obra, Francis Bacon, promova la idea de que el estado debe financiar el experimento cientfico, para el bien ltimo de sus ciudadanos. Rudolf, todos su inconsistencia, imprevisible y su reinado muy corto, intentaba hacer esto... para recoger y utilizar el conocimiento cientfico y artstico del mundo, para resolver problemas y mejorar el estado de la humanidad. Bien, eso y hacer oro de plomo, para financiar sus ejrcitos y as proteger sus intereses y posicin. Drebbel fue ms un experimentador en tal sistema, l no era un lder. Rodolfo II fue ms el modelo y esperanza porque, creo, un nuevo comienzo de estatal de financiacin cientfica y experimentacin y creo que l es el verdadero modelo de Salomn de Bacon. Tambin digno de mencin, con algunos paralelos a los conceptos de la Nueva Atlntida, es la

experiencia de Tycho Brahe. Recibi la isla de Hven por el gobierno sueco, para que l podra seguir sus experimentos en astronoma. Esto fue supuestamente a un mayor costo a la nacin, un 7% del presupuesto nacional, que cualquier financiacin anterior o posterior de un proyecto cientfico. As en esta historia, que tenemos una isla, un cientfico y cientfica financiacin... sin duda esto fue de gran inters y la posible influencia, a Bacon, en la escritura de sus conceptos similares en su utopa. Y curiosamente, Brahe despus fue acogido en la corte de Rudolf II, alces para mascotas y todos. As podramos sospechar una influencia cruzada en la historia de Brahe, a la historia de la Nueva Atlntida, incluso si me equivoco y Rudolf era el modelo de Salomn. En cuanto a "Fausto", yo no puedo desacuerdo con una atribucin, en parte, a Dee. Hubo un real Dr. Fausto, que los historiadores creen que fue una base parcial para el personaje, asumiendo que muchos de los atributos de Dee llenados el personaje de ficcin. Fausto implcita su magia, pero no puso en marcha un estado, no era un lder. Faust utiliza sus poderes para fines puramente egostas. En la versin de Marlowe, Fausto convoca a dos magos, Valds y Cornelio, cuyos nombres recuerdan algo de Basil Valentine y Cornelius Drebbel. Pero no s si esto siempre ha sido un problema con los eruditos de Marlowe, y as est inactivo meditando por mi parte. Al menos, otra vez, con sus libros y la magia, el carcter de Fausto es ciertamente que recuerdan de John Dee y no de Rudolf en todos.

Fausto! Cuidado! No jugar justo! Drebbel es la influencia aceptada para el alquimista "El alquimista" de sutil de Ben Johnson. Y Johnson tena algn inters en el trabajo de Drebbel, sabemos, como menciona su mquina perpetua en otra obra. El carcter sutil tiene su magia y sus libros, pero l es ms de un charlatn que un respetado proveedor de las "Artes". Por lo que entiendo de la reputacin de

Drebbel a veces, puede haber propiedad un poco de una reputacin similar, negativo. Pero al menos en este caso, el Asistente de eleccin es Drebbel y no de John Dee.

Sir John Geilgud como Prospero... con el libro de apoyo Finalmente, el carcter de Prospero, el mgico "derecho Duque de Miln", es generalmente atribuido a John Dee y a veces, en parte, a Drebbel. Y por supuesto sera difcil sostener con Prospero siendo un poco autobiogrfico a Shakespeare, como muchos suponer. Pero veo otros paralelos que sealan una vez ms, para m, Rudolf II. Prospero, como Rudolf, es lder de su reino, mientras un Dee o Drebbel realmente eran sirvientes a la corona, slo los participantes en la sociedad. No insultar a los recuerdos de cualquier hombre con una comparacin a Ariel ya sea o Caliban. Pero como esos dos personajes, sirven y no condujo. Es cierto que Prospero no slo da rdenes a sus ayudantes mgicos, sino que tambin utiliza las "artes oscuras", de s mismo. Pero esto solo debe no etiqueta le "Dee", como lo mismo podra decirse de Rudolf, que tena un gran inters en el arte alqumico, incursion en sus propios experimentos y vag sobre una larga tnica cubierto con smbolos msticos. Rudolf era algo "Dee como" por mritos propios. De mayor inters y posiblemente la baza a mi argumento de Rudolf Prospero es, es que Prospero fue usurpado por su hermano, como Rudolf fue usurpado por su hermano, Matthias. Ambos hombres eran nobles, que injustamente fueron lanzados desde el poder y ambos, por sus hermanos. Por supuesto la verdadera historia de Rudolf II, termina en tragedia, mientras que la historia de prspero comienza 12 aos antes, en la tragedia y termina en el triunfo. Pero no creo que esta coincidencia debe ser ignorada, especialmente teniendo en cuenta los dems que he tomado nota. Adems, el momento del juego encaja precisamente... se estren en 1611, el mismo ao que Rudolf era forzado de energa. Desde esta perspectiva, el juego podra ser visto como un sueo de esperanzado, fantstico e imaginativo, en que Rudolf, como Prospero, recupera su trono de su hermano.

Desafortunadamente Rudolf muri antes del prximo funcionamiento conocido de la tempestad, que estaba en la boda de la princesa Elizabeth y Frederick del Palatino. Pero este evento tambin se apunta a Rudolf como Prospero, porque estaba preparado para Frederick y trgicamente colocado en la posicin muy que Rudolf perdido... Roman Emperor... slo unos aos ms tarde. En un sentido, si Rudolf no logr alcanzar la retribucin que Shakespeare podra haber imaginado en la semejanza de Prospero, Frederick xito... si todos demasiado brevemente. El rey del invierno perdi sus tierras y el ttulo, en la batalla de la montaa blanca en 1620. Pero tal vez el funcionamiento de este juego en la boda tuvo un mensaje poltico esperanzador para la joven pareja, y para cualquier persona que saba se realiz all, si me equivoco.

Palatinado Federico V & Princess Elizabeth: "Starcrossed" no se acercan a describir lo que sucedi despus.

El concepto histrico y contemporneo del barbudo mago sin duda tiene mucho que debemos a John Dee, pero sera injusto excluir las influencias poderosas y contribuciones a la "historia de mago" que Rudolf II y Cornelis Drebbel hecho, especialmente si se considera el contexto en que estos magos fueron escritos en la literatura. Todos nuestros Prosperos no eran y no, John Dee. Tal vez ni siquiera la original prspero, duque legtimo de Miln... o, pueden ser de AustriaHungra? Etiquetas: dee, drebbel, Fausto, john, mago, prospero, Rodolfo ii, shakespeare, tempestad, Asistente Publicada en historia y procedencia, Uncategorized | 5 Comentarios

Vitela en blanco viejo sentados?

30 De junio de 2011

A menudo se ha afirmado, tanto antes como despus del lanzamiento de la datacin por radiocarbono de la Voynich hojas, que hubiera sido improbable o imposible para el creador del libro haber encontrado viejo vitela hacerlo desde. Esta hiptesis se ha utilizado para suponer que el manuscrito se debe haber realizado poco despus de la fecha de radiocarbono de la vitela, que es aproximadamente 1404-1438. Se ha dicho que el costo de la vitela y pergamino a lo largo de la historia ha significado que no habra nunca sido almacenados, en blanco, durante largos perodos de tiempo. Y adems, el caso del palimpsesto se ha utilizado para indicar que el valor de la vitela era tan grande que los religiosos escribas manuscritos laboriosamente blanqueados y raspados para reutilizarlos. Mientras todos stos pueden ser fiel a cierto punto, durante algunas veces, en algunos lugares, lo que he encontrado es que es en absoluto improbable que un autor de Voynich pudo haber venido a travs de un lote de antao, en blanco, vitela en algn lugar... y tambin, teniendo en cuenta que algunas de las presuntas intenciones de dicho autor, realmente habra sido una opcin ms que para su ejecucin del Tratado de hierbas o astrolgicos de molino. En 2007 empez a buscar ejemplos de vitela en blanco en internet. Rpidamente me encontr con un distribuidor de libro llamado Pirages, que era publicidad 20 o ms hojas de lo que l describi como "GOBERN pero lo contrario en blanco VITELA manuscrito hojas", que, dijo, era desde el siglo XVI. Al parecer eran de algn libro, que fue cayendo a pedazos, porque crea que "fueron posiblemente de la entrada anterior"... una entrada de catlogo que se haba ido cuando que vi el listado. Por desgracia, todos 20 + hojas tambin haban sido vendidas por el tiempo me contact con l, por $35 un pedazo. El punto es que en 2007, una persona con un conocimiento de frmulas de tinta histrico podra haber hecho una pgina 40 "Sra. Voynich", que tendra por radiocarbono que data del siglo XVI. Y, de hecho, para cerca de $700. Suponiendo que estas hojas eran demasiado pequeas como para doblar en quires, que luego le habra permitido una pgina 80 "Voynich". ******************************************

Las bsquedas adicionales revelaron un libro que fue y es todava en el mercado, el "PROTONOTARII APOSTOLICII", o Bullae et Statuta Officii Septem Sedis Apostolicae Protonotariorum en Curia Romana Participantium.Es ofrecido por Michael Sharpe raros y antiguos libros, por $95.000. Este libro est enteramente en vitela y fue creado en 1523. Fue luego utilizado para las entradas, continuamente, hasta ms de 300 aos ms tarde, la ltima entrada siendo 1839. Pero no ha terminado: el libro sigue siendo para la venta, hoy, con 44 hojas en blanco, compuesto por 88 pginas en blanco, mide unos 11 1/4 x 8 1/4. Repito, si tienes el dinero y el conocimiento de tintas histricas, podra ser su aficin de verano hacer un rival de Voynich 88 pgina... y cuando Arizona lleg a sus manos en una astilla o dos, confiablemente fecha a 1523.

Protonotarii Apostolicii, 1523, con 88 pginas en blanco de la vitela

****************************************** Aparece en el peridico de la biblioteca Huntington, "Noticias de libro miniatura", #65, junio de 1990, es este listado, "El segundo volumen es un impar poco manuscrito encuadernado en un enlace metlico que probablemente fue producido a finales del siglo XV. Contiene 154 hojas de papel vitela que todos pero tres estn en blanco. El tamao de pgina es 3 7/8 x 2 7/8 pulgadas. El texto es slo tres hojas impares de un libro de horas. La primera hoja contiene quince lneas a la pgina con las letras maysculas en dorado y azul. El texto est en latn. La segunda hoja contiene catorce lneas y es una hoja elaborada con un borde de flores. El texto en latn, refiere a la Virgen Mara. La tercera hoja contiene quince lneas a la pgina con maysculas en pan de oro sobre varios colores. El texto est en latn. Al parecer las tres hojas en el centro del volumen fueron espesadas por las hojas en blanco vitela que encajan dentro de la Unin metal." Bien hara un lindo poco Voynich, escribir tan pequeo! Pero al menos sera un nmero en lo que le falta en tamao, teneis un libro completo 302 pginas cuando se realizaron. Y habra algunos araazos cabeza entre eruditos del manuscrito despus de Arizona consigui a travs de con l (si usted sus tintas mixtas bien y no en recipientes de bronce, bien), pues al parecer datara de 1450 a 1500. ****************************************** En 2008 la cmara de los Lores britnica tuvo una decisin. Parece que tenan algunos pergamino en blanco queda, despus de tomar la decisin de finalmente... despus de un milenio o ms?... dejar de usarlo para fines oficiales. Abajo se encuentra la letra que encontr. Estimado Mr.Todd, Gracias por tu e-mail de 24 de julio. Puede ser til si clarifica la posicin en cuanto se refiere a los actos del Parlamento. William Cowley Ltd. suministra vitela a nuestra impresora The Stationery Office. Los costos incluyen aquellos para la impresin. La vitela no utilizado por la administracin de la casa se utilizar para la construccin del rollo de los seores (y no de leyes del Parlamento). Miembros firman el rollo cuando toman el juramento. No tenemos informacin registrada pertinentes a sus preguntas sobre el stock de vitela en manos de la administracin. Sin embargo, me

han hablado a un colega que aborda el rollo. Me informa que hay aproximadamente 100 hojas. Dado el uso limitado es probable que dedique algn tiempo a esta fuente de escape. Frances gris Libertad de informacin oficial Cmara de los Lores Probablemente no era muy viejo, creo que podemos asumir. Pero fue en blanco, y fue en almacenamiento. Debemos asumir que este mismo caso no exista en 1450, 1500, 1550, 1610 o 1912? Podemos suponer que por primera vez en la historia, una agencia gubernamental overbought vitela y no estaba seguro de qu hacer con el exceso? Sabemos que el autor de la Sra. Voynich no tenido acceso a esas tiendas de gobierno? Uno es Bienvenido a especular en estos casos siempre han sido imposibles, hasta 2008, pero no puedo. ****************************************** Lo que ocurri en el siglo XIX? He encontrado en la "Comisin real en manuscritos histricos", 1870, pgina 69, en el listado siguiente, "Deja una serie de vitela suelto, gran folio, una vez unida, las juntas an permanecen......A continuacin sigue, en una serie de hojas de papel vitela, un calendario, en el que la ltima fecha es el 6 de Henry 34 (1456 D.C.) de todas las subvenciones por escritura hecha por el fundador real......A continuacin, despus de algunas decenas de hojas en blanco de la vitela, un catlogo de la biblioteca de la Universidad..." Me quedo con "algunas decenas" a ser ms de dos docenas de""... pero vamos a ser conservadores y comenzar all. Sabemos que en 1870 exista (y probablemente existen, hoy en da), vitela en blanco de 24 a 36 o ms hojas, igualando de 48 a 72 o ms pginas de vitela en blanco, que carbono datara a pre-1456. ******************************************

105 Hojas de vitela en blanco para la venta La imagen de arriba es de un link muerto, por lo que supongo que se ha vendido el artculo. Ninguna estimacin de la fecha de este libro fue dado, y los vendedores nunca atrs me

escribieron Cuando pregunt. Pero como son un vendedor de "Libros raros y antiguos", esto obviamente no se refiere a algn producto reciente. Descripcin Lee, "Volumen de 105 hojas en blanco vitela de 313 x 205 mm, con 3 en blanco hojas de papel al principio y al final, en vitela llano viejo vinculante, filete de la lnea de triple ciego en cubiertas". No es que tengo que sealar esto, otra vez, pero con este pequeo volumen, quien compr, podra hacer una rplica de Voynich 210 pgina poco agradable.

Aspecto familiar? Usted podra haber propiedad 210 todas las pginas en blanco de la vitela, el ao pasado... Y as sucesivamente. Cada cierto tiempo, busco en internet para estos ejemplos. Hay docenas ms casos de entre uno y cinco o as, hojas papel vitela o pergamino en blanco dejaron en blanco, pero por supuesto esto era prctica estndar para llenar los extremos de libros. No guardo esas referencias. Pero ejemplos como la lista de arriba, se encuentran fcilmente, hoy. Debe haber muchos ms casos que no he encontrado, y que puede no han hecho que en las listas en lnea. El punto es obvio, pero no obstante te resumo: es muy posible que el Voynich podra haber creado casi cualquier fecha posterior 1438 de vitela antiguo, encontrado en blanco. El hecho de que an hoy, vitela en blanco antiguo hojas existen en cantidad, razonablemente implica lo hubiera sido siempre as. Si una persona desea crear un manuscrito avejentado, en cualquier momento del siglo XV para hoy, podra han encontrado una pila utilizable de vitela viejo, en la parte trasera de un viejo libro, ledger no utilizado, archivos gubernamentales o un polvo viejo almacn. Agregar a la existencia probada de tal vitela es el asumido a menudo importancia y valor de Voynich al creador de la misma. La vitela era ah, sabe... y el autor de Voynich

probablemente tuvo cada incentivo para encontrar y utilizar it... quienquiera que era, y cuando lo hicieron, de 1404 hasta 1912.

Newbolds Nebula
May 31, 2013

Anyone who has an interest in the history of Voynich is well aware of the unfortunate and disastrous attempts of William Romaine Newbold to solve its mysteries. Although an earnest and intelligent man, he could probably be considered the first to fall victim to the vast, nebulous, nature of the problem, in which one can often see any solution their individual proclivities lead them to. But nebulous is a bit of an appropriate and even punny adjective, in Newbolds case, as hi s most famous error was in believing that Roger Bacon not only wrote the Voynich, but possessed optical equipment which allowed him the ability to discern the spiral structure of the Andromeda Galaxy or Nebula, in his time. I wont here deal with the many other facets of Newbolds infamous claims, not the least of which was the belief that each character was made up of microscopic segments, which were therefore coded information; or the resulting long strings of subjective results from those segments, which became immense anagrams which would and did yield infinite and diverse results. What interests me are the Andromeda suggestions. It barely requires a detailed explanation as to why he was wrong, but very simply, the detail necessary to see the spiral nature of the Andromeda was not possible until the telescopes of the latter part of the 19th century allowed it. But if you are interested in a good dissection of the reasons why, read Norman Sperlings excellent blog post on the subject, Voynich: Spiraling into Folly. As Sperling writes in his very first sentence, William R. Newbolds 1921 contention that the spiral graphic in folio 68r represents a spiral nebula is wild bunk.

Isaac Roberts 1899 Photo of the Andromeda Galaxy Above is the first picture of the Andromeda Galaxy, taken by Isaac Roberts, in 1895. As he described it in his 1899 book, Photographs of Stars, Star-Clusters and Nebul, That the nebula is a left-hand spiral, and not annular as I at first suspected, cannot now be questioned; for the convolutions can be traced up to the nucleus which resembles a small bright star at the center of the dense surrounding nebulosity; but notwithstanding its density the divisions between the convolutions are plainly visible on negatives which have a proper degree of exposure. Compare the Roberts photograph, and description, above, with the f68r image from the Voynich, below. Also note that the Voynich image spirals to the right, not the left, as the Andromeda does:

Well it is Spiral, Anyway So then Newbold showed the f68r spiral image (above) to one Eric Doolittle of our Flower Observatory, who (according to the Newbold/Kent book, The Cipher of Roger Bacon, told Newbold, that in his opinion it unquestionably represented a nebula, and that the man who drew it must have had a telescope. This alone seems to have led Newbold to one of his purely speculative decipherments of the center of f68rs spiral illustration. However note that Doolittle did not say which spiral nebula, and bear that in mind when considering that some spiral nebulas known, and photographed by that time, were actually seen as a circular shape as f68rs illustration shows and not as an oval, due to an angle to the viewer, as the Andromeda does (see below, Isaac Roberts M51 & M100 Com). So we cant really draw Doolittle into the web of error, considering this, nor knowing how the illustration was presented to him in the first place. However, Newbold takes the Nebula hint, runs with it, and translates the Voynichese at the center of the spiral, The legend is extremely difficult to decipher, but my first attempt gave the location of the object as between the navel of Pegasus, the girdle of Andromeda, and the head of Cassiopea, and stated that it was seen in a concave mirror. The great Nebula of Andromeda lies within the

triangle determined by these three points; it is there fore presumable the object which Bacon saw. And here, too, we see Newbold substituting Dolittles telescope with a concave mirror. I see in this a disingenuous, unscientific manipulation of the purely subjective results of Newbolds, to reflect what he must have suspected: Telescopes were out of the question for Roger Bacon, but there were historic hints of concave mirrors being used in this capacity, at a very early date. Look again at the f68r spiral in question. And below we see Isaac Roberts image of Nebul M51 and M100 Com, taken in the 1890s. Com appears in his 1899 book. I feel these help to exonerate Doolittle to some extent, and further mire Newbold in a fog of questionable judgement. For I would have to say that if I saw the below photographs, and the above Voynich illustration, I would certainly have wondered, as Doolittle did, if there was a connection. At the very least I am certain that I would not have jumped to the oval-appearing Andromeda, as Newbold did, as it never appeared to me a good match. I also note they are right spirals, as f68rs illustration is:

I have of course, as others have, wondered if Romaine Newbold was a victim of an overabundance of imagination, which drove his wild speculations to their obviously incorrect conclusions. But at the same time I felt this may point at Voynich, and possibly others, having fed the poor man just enough Roger Bacon winks and nods to send him off the cliffs of selfdelusion. Anyone who did study Bacon would soon become aware of his possible use of optics and code, which would have caused Newbold to pick them up with relish- well, we know he didbut then he charged off at light-speed down a road Voynich never intended, or imagined. But perhaps all Voynich really wanted was for Newbold to simply see a few microscopes instead of jars, a couple of diatoms and such, and maybe, M51 from Isaac Roberts book. If this is the case, I would imagine Voynichs great frustration. Rather than being handed the desired reasonable, and yet exciting, Roger Bacon attribution, Newbold instead managed to taint the image of the Cipher Manuscript, along with his

own reputation, and even, a little bit, the name of Roger Bacon himself and thereby destroy any chance Wilfred Voynich would sell this manuscript in his lifetime. Tags: andromeda, galaxy, manuscript, nebula, newbold, romaine, voynich Posted in Dating the VMs, optics | Leave a Comment

The Green Microscope

May 18, 2013

When I first proposed my Voynich/Optical theories years ago, one of the most common criticisms of it was that some of the microscope illustrations I used as comparisons were from dates later than the time of my theory. This is true, and I did acknowledge it. Of course I would, and can, still use them, as the descriptions of 1610/20 optical devices, and even earlier ones in some cases, do show that later 17th century optical instruments do have many of the features of the earlier, often lost and not illustrated, devices. Nonetheless, the problem did have an effect on the way I looked at this, but not necessarily the way the critics intended. They used this point to claim that the Voynich cylinders could not be microscopes, but at the same time, they were dismissing the fact that their observation also implies that if they were the microscopes they did agree they resembled, then the Voynich was newer than they, or even I, suggested. In effect they were ignoring an important implication, a possibility opened up by the very observation they were making. This is even more apparent when you consider that at least three of the newer microscope illustrations I was comparing to the Voynich cylinders were such a good match, that they could arguably be the actual source of the Voynich illustration. The two most notable are the Green Microscope, and of the ones in the Spanish engraving , both very similar to cylinders on the f101v pages. So if you take the critics point at face value, that the devices look too new, then one is open to any age for the Voynich between 1404 and 1912, when Wilfred said he found it. Considering these points, and when I began to seriously consider the Voynich Manuscript may be a 19th century fake, I of course revisited many of my old ideas in a new light.

Here is the Green Microscope compared to an f101v cylinder. You can see that the coloration, proportion, the recessed top, the placement of the change in diameter, and the inclusion (if not the accurate representation) of decoration, show that the green microscope and this Voynich cylinder are strikingly similar. Even the green of the vellum covering, and the brown where the wooden portions of the microscope are bare, are seemingly represented. I think it can be said that if a person saw the actual microscope, and had the appropriate inks, pens and brushes, any resulting drawing would not be much different than the Voynich illustration. But in order for the Green Microscope to appear in an early 20th century forged manuscript, it would have to be reasonable to expect that the suspected forger would have seen it. And they probably would have had to have seen the actual device, and not a picture in a book, because color photographs in books were very uncommon before 1912. I have not seen this one, in any case, in all the microscope books I have found, either in black and white or color, photographed or illustrated. So for the real Green Microscope to be the model, it would have to be reasonable that Wilfred Voynich could have seen it. I went back to the website of the Museo Galileo, the museum which has the microscope, to see if this made sense.

The Museo Galileo, it turns out, is in Florence, Italy. They have owned the Green Microscope since the early 18th century, as it is listed as a Vincenzo Viviani bequest. He died in 1703, so they have had it since about then. The museum does not apparently know the actual age or maker of this microscope and it is listed as a microscope part, as they assume it is a part of the body tube of one but they do speculate that it originates from the late 17 th century. It was a practice at the time, on some microscopes, to have the central section of the device removable, in order to use it as a field microscope. Some were even made this way from the beginning, with no stand, to carry into the environment and study things in the field. The location of the museum in Florence was encouraging start, because in the early 20 th century, Wilfred Voynich was also in Florence. He had purchased, in 1908, the great Libraria Franceschini, on 110 Via Ghibellina. And this vast book emporium, containing over half a million manuscripts, incunabula, pamphlets, maps, and who-knows-what, has often been suspected as a possible, real, source of the Voynich even as the place Wilfred may have unearthed the little pile of unused ancient vellum he might have used to forge his famous cipher manuscript. Voynich, and the Green Microscope, and a vast archive of vellum were all in the same city, at the same time! But how close were they? The scientific instruments of the Museo Galileo were moved to the present location only 1,900 feet from Voynichs shop, as it turns out in 1930. I needed to find out where it was before that, between 1908 and 1912, when Voynich was still there, and before he announced the manuscript. So I wrote to the Museo, and was told by a retired director, The Viviani collection was housed before at the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova. Then, in the second half of 19th century, it was given to the Museo di Antichi Strumenti (Museum of Ancient Instruments), located inside the today Museo La Specola. So La Specola was the home of the green microscope during the time of Voynichs presence in Florence. And it was, and is, the location of the Trubuna De Galileo, a magnificent alcove with a statue of Galileo, a series of friezes with important scenes from his life, and surrounded by rooms which contained the collections of antique scientific instruments of the Viviani collection, and others. And it turned out that that collection was at 4 Via Georgio La Pira, a mere 1.3 kilometer, 15 minute walk from the doors of Voynichs Libraria. The Green Microscope was 15 minutes from the man who found the Voynich Manuscript, which contains an image which virtually reflects the very same device.

A Very Short and Pleasant Walk But the fact he very well could have seen the Green Microscope has another implication, for those who consider the Voynich Manuscript is real: If Wilfred had thought he had found a precious Roger Bacon manuscript, he would have also known Bacon was believed to have possessed and used sophisticated optical devices

Tribuna Di Galileo so then why did Voynich not see, and note, the similarity between one of the drawings, and the Green Microscope, himself? Because he could not point to it, any more that he could point directly to the Baresch letter, or any other possible sources for a fake if he forged the Voynich Manuscript. Well, unless you want to theorize that he the man had very poor observational skills, or worse, that he was never tempted, at least once in 5 years, to take what must be a fantastic stroll through the streets of one of the worlds most beautiful cities, to the greatest collection of rare and important scientific instruments in the world.

Tags: florence, manuscript, optics, voynich Posted in Dating the VMs, optics | 2 Comments

Anne Nill Speaks

January 16, 2013

Back in 2008 I had the opportunity to research the Voynich collection at New Yorks Grolier Club. My daughter and I made several interesting discoveries, including Ethels personal notebook of plant identities. This find implied that she was quite convinced of the Voynich Manuscripts authenticity, which had been a question in some quarters. Some of the correspondence in the collection colored out some smaller aspects of the Voynich business, but there really was nothing groundbreaking in nature. Of course I was only able to look through two of the boxes (#6 & #8), and really did not have the time I needed to explore even those to the extent I would have liked. And ever since then, I wanted a chance to look in box #5, which contains much correspondence between Anne Nill, Wilfred and Ethels business manager, and Herbert Garland, the manager of the Voynich London office.

Anne Nill, from 1924 Christian Science Monitor Article Since 2008, it had been suggested to me that box 5 might be important in giving us insight into the provenance of the Voynich Ms., because it was thought that if Anne Nill knew something about this, she may have revealed it to Garland. I was given permission in the summer of 2012 to examine these letters, and went down on July 24. Again, I could not say that the letters altered the Voynich landscape to any great degree, but there were some interesting revelations. Most importantly there was a shift in my understanding of the place and value the Voynich manuscript had to Wilfred, Ethel, Anne and Herbert. It was not simply one of their properties, nor even simply the one which was most potentially valuable. It went beyond that. It seems the Voynich, or Bacon Ms., had become in a way the identity of the firm, and even a part of their own identity. They all seemed to place a great deal of hope, through troubled times, that they would survive a fate of destitution and obscurity, when and if they could properly validate the precious possession. I think that this attitude, this hope, may have even caused them to lose focus on the business as whole. The book business itself was a house of cards tenuously built around the Voynich ms., which was almost preserved despite it being a burden, while fostering the belief that the mysterious cipher manuscript would come to their rescue, and pay off all debts, and secure their future but only if they only could resolve its true author, and purpose. At the same time it was clear that they felt themselves protectors of it, not only for this potential monetary value, but also for the intrinsic, romantic value. It was their treasure, and it was their legacy. The Nill/Garland letters cover a period between about 1928 and 1935, and include copies of Ms. Nills letters to Garland, and many of his letters to her. The two became friends over the years, and it is easy to see their relationship change and develop over that time. It went from a connection of business associates who have a sort of camaraderie, and into a more personal one, in which the share their views of family, life, politics, the Great Depression, personal hopes, successes and failures, illness, and death. It seems that the decline in the book trade, the death of Wilfred in 1930, and the aging, illnesses and injuries of Ethel Voynich and Mrs. Garland, all led Anne and Herbert into closer terms. As the years wore on, they had a sort of emotional huddle across the pond, through the dozens of letters, where they could commiserate on a personal level, but also plan their way out of an increasingly hopeless business situation. Rare books were not selling in the depression, of course. But even by 1928, before the Stock Market Crash, Anne reveals, Voynich had already borrowed $8,500 to keep the business afloat. And after he died, after the Crash, and the book trade began to diminish along with everything else, it was up to Anne to figure out the best way to market and sell the stock, pay the rents on the offices, retain the reputation of the Voynich legacy, pay estate and sales taxes, and at the same time, care for her dear friend, Ethel. She lamented that she worked every day and Sunday, and late into the night to fulfill her responsibilities as she saw them. And she handled her lot in life with dignity, intelligence, grace and humor.

During the Depression, Anne related that she needed to sell a baseline of $1,000 of books a month to keep the Voynich business afloat, and meet the needs of the household. She was not always able to do this. In the very letter in which she describes the death of Wilfred- in a very touching and personal way she goes on, Now about business, since life is such a jumble that we must think of accounts when faced with death Of course I havent had time to try to raise cash this week but I shall take up this burden next week to see what I can do. Just now there is some $3000 in the bank (of which I propose to send you at least 200 for rent and office expenses) but I shall not be able to touch it until the will has been probated. However, less than a year later, it the estate taxes were demanded, and they amounted to $3,400. She then told Garland that she could only pay $2,000 toward those taxes, as she needed the other money in the account to pay expenses, and would have to owe the remaining $1,400 to the State at 12% interest. And book sales continued to decrease, and bills piled up. And so it went, month after month, year after year. It was a rough time, and there was always talk of closing both offices, and the business. But apparently Ethel wanted to continue it, and had high hopes. Anne tried to meet those hopes, to no avail. There was often talk of closing the London office, and the possible termination of Garland. At first it looked as though that would happen soon after Wilfreds death. But within a short time, Anne and Ethel came to the decision the London office, and Garland, could stay in business, and help to sell off the London stock, if not simply continue indefinitely as a going concern. Anne was able to offer several batches of books from the US, and London, through Sothebys auction house in London, whi ch helped. It seems that like Wilfred before, Anne too, now had misgivings about the New York book auctions ability to get a fair price, or even describe the books properly. Anne did her best, and was proactive in representing the stock. She often suggested titles to collectors, both new, and previous customers. So she quickly and by necessity evolved from an office manager into a book dealer herself, and even made attempts to replenish the stock although with meager assets, and multiple duties and concerns, this was very difficult for her. But because of all the hurdles they faced, and the income from the auction and private sales was often disappointing (never even reaching the level of their daily needs), Anne was never able to accumulate the nest egg she had hoped. But there was the promise that they may have a way out of this dismal spiral, and it lay in two treasures they still possessed. Throughout these difficult years, Anne and Ethel held out hope that two books in their collection might be sold, and save the business and all of them. These were referred to as the Bacon and the Valturius. Of course the Bacon, which was often also referred to as the cipher mss., was the Voynich Ms.. The Valturius was one of WMVs great finds a manuscript copy, on vellum, of De re Militari, by Robertus Valturius (interestingly, Voynich concurrently owned a second copy of this book, which neither Anne nor Wilfred seemed

to ever actively promote. In fact, it seems to be somewhat of a secret, outside of a brief, later mention in the DiRicci catalog of 1937). As I understand it, the printed versions, with woodcut illustrations, are and were quite rare and valuable. Having an actual manuscript copy of this book was therefore quite a potential asset for Voynich. Up until his death, he held hope that he might get as much as $100,000. However, after he was gone, Anne and Ethel apparently only had it insured for 7,800. This modest number seems to be to save on their insurance premium, as the Voynich they only had insured for 4,000. But still, The Bacon and the Valturius were the engines of hope for Voynich and Ethel, and after Wilfred was gone, the only real hope for Anne Nill that she might save the company, herself, and Ethel from poverty. Of course they never sold while Ethel was alive. And as we also now know, Anne eventually inherited the Voynich, and sold it for a mere $15,000, not long before her death. The Voynich Valturiuss were eventually sold by Kraus to Lessing J. Rosenwald, and then bequeathed by him to the Library of Congress, where they both reside today. And to her credit, and yet sadly, it seems Anne put her own dreams on hold for all these years. She never married, and seems to have had a somewhat troubled life. It is clear that her responsibilities to the Voynich concern, and to Ethel, were a great part of the cause of this, as much as the time she lived in. It was ironic that Wilfreds will stipulated some substantial inheritance for her, but that Anne would not collect, for that would mean a further hardship for Ethel. Anne wrote, As for me, Mr. Voynich has made a more than generous provision, which I feel that I can accept only if Bacon and Valturius go through. But like you I have always felt that Valturius will not bring $100,000 nor anything like it. If they go through it means it would be possible for me to continue the business in some way if I care to, and perhaps this is what he wanted, but at present I see nothing clearly. There is such a void. However there is no need to go into anything of this nature just yet and all I know is that Mrs. Voynich and I will be in harmony and that is important. Friendship and trust and duty came first for this woman, and she stuck those principles through the increasingly turbulent times of the Great Depression. It was her character which held it together for her, Ethel, and to the end of the employment and after, for Herbert Garland, her friend. The letters relate these difficulties, but also the small triumphs- such as Ethel wishing for a piano, which they could not afford- and having a friend fortuitously mentioning they were moving without theirs, and so Ethel and Anne got it for the $12 moving fee. Anne was happy that Ethel had the piano to play, although she felt it was out of place in the apartment, and too large. But it was surprising to me the importance both women placed on the Voynich Ms., and the interest they had. As I mentioned, in my last visit to the Grolier I learned the extent that Ethel delved into the mystery, in the form of her personal notebook of plant identifications. But it

went beyond this, as box 5 now reveals. The interest was deep, and shared by both women. It was bred of from concern for the value of the manuscript, which they felt relied on preservation of the Bacon attribution, but their fascination was also one of the romance and mystery of it, just as much as it has held for hundreds or thousands of others over the centuries. They were hooked on it, just as so many have been since, and still are. Anne requested a copy of a book on Roger Bacon from Garland (and made a point that that book, for 8 shillings, and the copy of The Gadfly which he procured, would not be billed to the business). She mentioned finding parallels with Bacons work in the Voynich. And meanwhile, Ethel consulted with botanists from all over the world, to help her with her plant identities. Anne mentioned that Ethel found comfort in this work, and spent hours with the Photostats spread on a table before her. And reference to her hope that the various members of what she termed the Voynich team of experts among them Manly, Garrett, and Thompson would determine that this was, in fact, a Roger Bacon work. On June 20, 1930, she writes, Professor Manly called this week, on his way back from London to Chicago. Mrs. Voynich came for the occasion and we had an interesting two hours. Do get her to tell you all about it and what he thinks of the Ms. and Carton, etc. etc. Of course he continues not to believe in Professor Newbolds work, but he does believe that the Ms. is of great importance. He seems to have discussed it with everyone in Europe, including Bernard Behrenson (who, he says, is very much interested in it). he also discussed it with Little, who, he says, considers it is an important Ms.. And Manly, though he did of course later discredit Newbolds work, continued to have a relationship with Ethel and Anne, and let them know in advance of his work and interest relating to it. This work on the part of Manly, with the Voynich Ms., had a direct effect on the decision to keep the business open through 1931 and 1932. About his 1931 review of the Kent-Newbold book in Speculum, [Manly] sent us both copies of this offprint of the review, which he said he was sending to various scholars, in the hope of reviving an interest in the MS. Amond others he said he had sent it to Steele, Kenyon and Flower. He appears to be doing what he can. He asked for a list of those to whom we would like it sent. This is one of the reasons we feel that the office should continue at least this winter. It may be impossible to do anything, if business continues to be bad, but we have the feeling that Manly (and perhaps Bishop and Thompson) will do what they can this winter, making use of the Speculum article. If nothing happens then, it looks like an indefinite delay. There second hope, the Valturius, figured in also. Anne continued, Another reason for continuing the office for the winter [1931/32] is the Val turius. We want to try to work up an interest in N.Y.P.L. [New York Public Library] quarters if possible. This is, of

course, a bare possibility. Years ago Mr. Kane would not have listened to a suggestion that it be considered for the Spencer Collection, and he may not now, but I have at last got him to the point that he has asked to borrow the Hutton book upon his return to town this autumn. If one can once get him interested in Malatestas life one would be able to risk showing him the MS, even though it is mostly on paper, which he will be sure to note as being against it. I do not see how Mr. Garrett can contemplate its purchase in anything like the near future, as his fortune, as I have said before, is bound up with the railroads, and railroad news continues to be as bad as possible. What good are treasures such as these, if there is no one to buy them? As for the interested in Malatesta, this refers to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, 1417 to 1468, the nobleman who commissioned the Valturius. Anne was doing her part as salesperson, a role she had been thrust into.

I was struck with the familiar nature of the response to this problem, by these people, and by the people they shared it with. It was familiar not only in all the many stories we can read about from the past- from the very first letters by Marci, in the 17th century, and the time spent after these letters, by Friedman, and all the many other experts and not, in the decades since- but also in posts I see today, on the Voynich Net, and around the web, in blogs and forums and personal emails and articles. The questions really have not changed, the approach and attitudes toward the mystery are much the same, and the hopes and dreams for seeing an answer were shared long before any of us knew of it. Anne herself had her own theories about the manuscript, which were related in a letter to Garland- but for some reason she chose not to share them with posterity, replacing the letter which outlined them, in 1936, with a note, listing the letters contents, among them, C) me my work on cipher ms. But there are references to her own ideas, and others, sometimes referenced in a way to make it difficult for me to know the source, or if she is referencing the cipher ms. or the Valturius It seems she thoug ht Bellini would be attributable to one or the other (I later learned that Wilfred hoped the boy sketch in his better Valturius might be a lost Bellini). But the quest was a frequent topic, as it was in this passage, I could go on and on about one thing and another, but I must not bore you too much. However I do want to tell you about the latest development with regard to the cipher manuscript. Mrs. Voynich has been working at the Morgan Library, and Miss Greene continues to be most friendly and helpful. A short time ago she volunteered the opinion that she did not think any scholar in this country would be able to help us with the problem and asked why we did not try Germany

for example. She mentioned the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg at Hamburg (see Minerva if interested) which, according to her, is a perfectly amazing hotbed of learning. She seemed to feel that if they cannot help us no-one can. Of course that doesnt follow. Well, the upshot of it was that a certain Dr. Erwin Panofsky of that institute is at present in New York and Miss Greene suggested that she bring him and Mrs. Voynich together- very decent of her dont you think. So Mrs. Voynich met him at the Morgan Library where she showed him the photostats (note that they are negatives and now in poor condition, having greatly faded in some parts). He became intensely interested and seemed to think the MS. early, perhaps as early as the 13th century. He asked to see the original, which we showed to him last Friday [they must have taken him to the safe deposit box]. His first impression was that it was early, but as he came to the female figures (in conjunction with the colors used in the manuscript) he came to the conclusion that it could not be earlier than the 15th century! The more I think of it (always making allowance for my slender knowledge of art) the more I think that his contention is sound. I cannot think of a single early MS. or painting which contains such shapely female figures as those in the MS. Furthermore he is convinced that the MS. is Spanish (or something southern near Spain) and shows strong Arabic and Jewish influences. He thinks there is some influence of the Kabbala in it.!!!!! Well, all that would make it interesting, anyway. You know both Professor Thompson and Professor Manly have been suggesting Spanish for some time (thought there might be something Lullian in it). Early 15th century would make it too late for Lull, but it might easily have something Lullian in it. Dr. Panofsky examined the two more or less visible sentences (one on the key page and one on page 17 [r]) which are apparently not in cipher and seemed to think they were Spanish rather than Latin (or rather something that had to do with Spanish). I am inclined to think he is right. He also noticed, what I am pleased to say I had noticed before, that the names of the months written in the plates of the signs of the Zodiac, and undoubtedly by a later hand, seem to suggest Spanish. For example April is written Abril. October is Octembre (or Octember I forget which), which certainly suggest some form of Spanish, rather than Latin or French or Italian. The upshot of it is that we have given him a whole set of photostats for his institute, as he wants two men there to work on it. One of them (I thiink Professor Salomon or Liebeschutz) it seems identified some remarkable Vatican manuscript (written in a senseless sort of Latin if I remember rightly) which had defied scholars for a long time. Perhaps they will not react to it as he seems to think they will, but if they do, we have achieved at least one of the things Mr. Voynich wanted- it was just this method of attack, in an institute, that he always hoped for and didnt think was possible to secure for it unless the MS. was sold to an Institution. It now looks as if it might be possible to start some work of this sort on it even if we cannot sell the MS. at this time. As it turns out, and long after the date of the last letter in this collection, she struck a deal with her later employer, H.P. Kraus. He reveals in this autobiography that he gave Ms. Nill $15,000 toward the manuscript (which she had inherited from Ethel), and offered it for sale for $160,000. He says that he came up with this number because that is what Wilfred asked before WWI.

Kraus was going to split the amount with Nill, but did not sell it before her death. It is a tribute to him, and his respect for Anne, that rather than continue to try selling the Voynich Ms. after she died, he donated it to the Beinecke.

The Grolier Club Reading Room What strikes me most in the Nill/Garland letters is that one might have trouble seeing any difference in the excitement, the type of varied conclusions and guesses, the hope and sense of an imminent solution to the problem, that we find in all the Voynich attempts in eight decades since Anne Nill wrote her words. And Ive no doubt that similar thoughts will still be written on the Voynich, just like Nill had, and all the thousands of others have, for centuries to come, should it still not be solved. But I also get a melancholy feeling for the life of Anne Nill, and the person she was. She held admirable standards for herself, and held her head high during the most difficult times, never abandoning the responsibilities thrust on her, and doing her best, with few complaints, to the very end. She was an important keeper of the Voynich, and we owe her a debt for that, as she never gave up hope. And it was that hope, at great personal cost to her, that saw the manuscript through the storm of the depression, to the safe home it has today. Tags: anne, club, ethel, grolier, manuscript, nill, voynich, wilfred Posted in history & provenance | 6 Comments

The Voynich in 1905?

August 19, 2012

Update, June 18, 2013: Rene Zandbergen had suggested that I check the Voynich archives at the Beinecke Library, to see if there were any letters by or about Charles Singer. I finally had an opportunity to do this, and found the below letter. It is from Singer, to Manly, dated May 11, 1931. Manly then forwarded it to Anne Nill and Ethel Voynich: Dear Professor Manly, There appears to be some misunderstanding in America about my views on the Voynich MS. I have never written anything about it, and any remarks I may have made in conversation represented only impressions of a long past event. From what you tell me, it is obvious that the MS that I remember seeing in Germany many years ago could not have been that of Mr. Voynich. Though I did not know Mr. Voynich personally, I have heard the highest reports of his integrity as a man and as a dealer from those who knew him well, and I should be very sorry to be thought to reflect on his memory in anything whatever. Yours very sincerely, Charles Singer So this clears up the matter. It was a simple misunderstanding all around. The trouble for me was that the Voynich collections are split between the Beinecke and the Grolier Club, and so the question was left hanging by seeing only the one. Ethel was very pleased with the revelation, and thanked Singer for clearing up the question with a hand-written letter by May 26th: Professor Manly has forwarded to me your very kind letter, the generous spirit of which I deeply appreciate. You will, I am sure, understand my having felt anxious that any accidental confusion of my husbands MS. with some other one should be cleared up, in order to prevent the possibility of any distressing misunderstandings later. Your letter has been a great relief to my mind, and I beg you to accept my thanks for it. Believe me, Sincerely yours, E.L. Voynich. Although the question is now settled Charles Singer never saw the Voynich before 1912, and actually only saw copies, years later I will leave the blog post up (for the time being, at least), for general interest.

***************************************************************************** ************* Ive not yet finished writing up my reflections on the Anne Nill and Herbert Garland letters in the Grolier Voynich collection, but before I did, Ive been anxious to relate a very interesting story which I discovered in that correspondence. I investigated this story a rumor really as far as I could, here in New York State, and on the internet, but if it can be taken any further it will have to be by someone in Europe. Even so, it will probably turn out to be a dead end, whether true or not, and never be resolved. But the implications of the rumor are important enough to explore as far as possible, in my opinion. The first mention of this issue is in Annes letter to Garland dated July 18th, 1930. She admits the letter is full of odds and ends, and proceeds to discuss various issues such as insurance payments, money owed to different people, and so on. One person they owe to is Joseph Baer of Frankfurt, a very well known rare book dealer. She hopes that the account is paid up, so that she can ask a few questions about the following incident: This morning Professor Thompson of the University of Chicago called to say that Singer, who has been lecturing all over the United States, was in Chicago where he, Prof. Thompson, met him and discussed the cipher MS. with him. he has circulated all over the U.S. the story that it is a 16th century a Paracelsan kind of MS. At this point I remarked to Professor Thompson that I thought it was amazing that a person who posed as a scholar could make such statements about a MS. he had never seen. That is just why I came to see you, said Professor Thompson, he claims he has seen it that 20 or 25 years ago Baer of Frankfurt showed it to him and told him it came from Prague. That, apparently, is the origin of Singers Paracelsan theory. Of course that is a fairly stunning rumor. It is also, in my opinion, a pretty solid one, and worth looking into. Consider that Thompson thought it was important enough to make a special visit to Nill, and Nill was interested enough to try and figure out if it was true. The 1930 date of the letter, and the fact that Thompson was previously in Chicago, means that Singer claimed Baer had the Voynich as early as 1905 to 1910. Even if Voynich had loaned it to him, this predates the 1912 ancient castle in Southern Europe and Villa Mondragone claims by at least two years, and as much as seven. But why would Voynich lend it to Baer in the first place? In the years Voynich owned it, he was very careful to whom he allowed access to the images of it. To leave it in Frankfurt, in the hands of a competitor, seems unlikely. Or did he actually get it from Baer? If so, where did Baer get it?

Another important implication to this is that Anne Nill was writing this during the castle in Southern Europe origin timeframe, but nevertheless was ready to distrust her recently deceased employer, mentor and friends word on that claimed provenance enough to have her ears perk up, and want to investigate, when Thomson dropped this in her lap. And further, years later when she gave information to Ricci for his catalog and she and Ethel substituted Villa Mondragone for ancient castle in Southern Europe, there was no mention of this old Frankfurt/Baer rumor. This, although (as you will see) she seemed somewhat unsatisfied with the results of her investigation. But she did try to get to the bottom of it, so even Nill thought the provenance Wilfred offered was something to question. She continued, So what I want to do, as soon as we get Baers account settled, if there is still something owing on it, is to write him a nice tactful friendly letter and try to get out of him what MS. they actually did have, from Prague, of a Paracelsan nature, which might have been shown to Singer 20 or 25 years ago. Thompson pointed out that in the 16tch century MSS. were not written on vellum, and that it was much more likely that our MS. might turn out to be by Raymond Lully, which, he said, more or less made Singer sit up. Why, I never thought of that. said S. The Crummers saw Singer in California, so I expect to get the real low-down on him when I see them. For some reason or another, it turned out that the Crummers were not able to enlighten Anne on the Singer issue. But it also seems that Anne was attempting to reason away the Singer claim, by assuming that the manuscript could not have been the beloved Bacon, but some other. This seems to be a bit of rationalization on her part, as Thomspon was quite clear that Singer was lecturing on the Voynich, and both Thompson and Nill were quite sure Singer had not seen it, or copies of it, while in the possession of the Voynichs. The only choices were that Singer had seen another manuscript he confused with the Voynich, or that he was telling the truth, and saw it in the possession of Baer, 1905 to 1910. But what of this Singer? What do we know, he knew, of the Voynich? This is almost certainly the same Charles Joseph Singer (1876-1960) who lectured, wrote and theorized on the Voynich Ms. He is quoted in Mary DImperios The Voynich Manuscript- An Elegant Enigma from two letters he wrote in 1957. One, to Tiltman in November 1957, mentions the Paracelsian ideas, My own feeling- again somewhat vague- about the little figures of nude men and women in the organs of the body is that they are somehow connected with the archaei of the Paracelsan or Spagyric School. This would fit in well with my suggestion about John Dee and Bohemia. So again, or still, in 1957, Singer is thinking Prague and Paracelsus. Again, we have choices in determining the implications of this. Either Singer really did see the Voynich in the possession of Baer pre-1910, and continued to believe as he did from the start these points; or that he was mistaken, and saw another manuscript with Baer (as Nill seemed to hope), which just happened to give him the same exact impression as the later, now revealed as the correct, Voynich Ms. did! For he must have, by 1957, seen images from the actual Voynich. I think that Dr. Singer

held to the same views as expressed to Thompson in 1930, and in his lectures at that time, all the way op to 1957, is a strong indication that he did see the actual Voynich Manuscript pre1910. Anne Nill seems to have settled whatever account they owed Baer fairly quickly, for by October 21st, 1930, she was able to report to Garland, Yesterday I had a reply from Baer to my letter on the subject which says, As to the question you are asking us, we cannot remember that we had any Paracelsan manuscript and we cannot find in the cards of books we sold, any reference to such a manuscript. That seems to take care of the matter unless Baer prefers to stay out of the matter so as not to offend a possible client. I referred (perhaps unwisely as I know [sp?] think) to the fact that it was Singer of Oxford who said that Baer and Co. had the Paracelsan MS. from Prague 25 years ago, and that he has stated that that is our Cipher Ms. Well, anyway, I wrote a tactful letter and perhaps it is just as well that the fact is on record in Germany, for Sudhoff also said it might be Paracelsan and he (he is not a paleographer) may have had a fixed opinion about it before he looked at the MS. last autumn, for, as you know, he and Singer have collaborated on something or other (at least I seem to remember that they have. Again I see in that a sense that Anne was hoping for some wiggle room, and wishing that the rumor was not true. Her reasoning, however, seems slim to me. She is again hoping that Singer may have come to his conclusions not from seeing the Voynich by 1910, in Germany, but by having discussions with others, at a later date. The only way this could be would be to call Singer a liar, however, which she only indirectly implies. Singer would have had to make up the story, to Thompson, and to have been publicly discussing the cipher ms. under false pretenses. I do not believe this is so, from what I read of Charles Singer that is, I believe he and Thompson were correct and truthful.

And, at the same time, she seems to question Baers credibility insinuating he was lying to her, in order not to offend a possible client. From what I have been reading about the internal practices of the rare book trade at this time, with the fudging of provenance, the shill bidding, the manipulations of prices at auction, the forgeries and deceptions I would not consider, as even Anne Nill apparently did not, a small lie about owning this manuscript- the Voynich- as so unusual on the part of Baer. And if so, who was this possible client? Was Nill thinking, as I did when I read that line, of Wilfred himself? So it was Baers word against Singers, at that point, and really, it still is.

As it stands, I see this rumor as fairly credible. Really the only way to dismiss it would be to prove, as Nill tried, that Singer saw a different manuscript with Baer, and this carried him through the years until he saw the actual Voynich, and he either happened to think the same things about both an unbelievable coincidence, really or that he did not want to destroy his credibility, and so when he finally saw the correct manuscript he simply applied his previous theory to it. I doubt both of those possibilities. I think there is something to this. But what can I do? For one thing, it turned out that I had access to the Baer catalogs from the first volume, in 1899, through his last, in the 1920s, thanks to the New York Public Library. They are available from off-site storage by previous arrangement, so of course I arranged it and saw them on Friday, August 17, 2012. I spent a good four hours poring through every page, from 1899 until well into 1914. Of course I did not expect to see the Voynich itself listed here, although I admit I did wonder at that happening. Perhaps, I thought, there was some mention of it under a different description, or some other ms. which Singer could have mistaken for it. But of course since the Voynich concern must have had these catalogs, I would imagine Anne Nill did exactly the same thing as I did last Friday. Nonetheless, it had to be done, so I did it. One interesting manuscript I did see was in his 1899 catalog, volume 2-3, page 20 which describes (thanks to Ernest Lillie for his translation help, which I did my best to further clarify), Interesting Manuscript, Italian labor. It contains plant and animal-illustrations, drawing executed in quill a watercolor, in alphabetical arrangement with notes Latin names. The drawing is very careful, very lifelike, but it something stilisirt [?]. We have before us the factory of an artist who was considered perhaps the surnames of the involuntary nature of symmetry of the drawing. The plant are represented on most rich, the codex contains about 480 plant illustrations, mostly the entire height of the leaves. . take between about 85 beasts are depicted. The whole work is a scientific purpose to note everywhere but make stops at the joy on the Visual artist and by invent stories, and where it may concern, he takes action in the miniatures. so with Cerasia he paints a cherry on which are two men that the Cherries a young woman with flowing blond hair throw in the dress pulled up. balsamus is in a high wall surrounded by a courtyard to keep before his gate two armed guard, and a third is on his shield, and falls asleep. is followed by a wildlife arc protect. Terebintus the tree, ex quo nascitur Terbentina is a man depicted in a barrel of turpentine absorbs etc., the costum points for Italy, the architecture has that broken down windows in the style of high Gothic, of the 14-hundreds. Clearly not the Voynich, but whether or not this interesting manuscript was similar enough to confuse Singer, is something we might consider. I would also be very interested in seeing this work, should anyone recognize it from this description. There was nothing else even remotely close to the Voynich that I could see in these catalogs.

I also looked for a Paracelsan Ms., which Baer clearly said he never owned or sold. And Baer did own and offer several copies of Paracelsus, although no manuscripts that I could find. So I think the catalog angle has been explored well enough to close that door. But that does not mean that this is a dead end. Far from it, as I still feel that the rumor has enough credence to warrant further investigation. Should anyone reading this agree with me, and I truly hope they do, perhaps they could look for any possible collections of Joseph Baer and his enterprise, perhaps in Frankfurt, for evidence in private letters and papers, of our cipher ms.. Similarly, the papers of Dr. Charles Singer ought to be examined, if they are available, for any mention of the Voynich pre-1910. I think these are worthy missions, considering the tremendous implications of the 1905 Frankfurt rumor to the field of Voynich research.

Tags: anne, baer, books, charles, joseph, manuscript, nill, rare, singer, voynich Posted in Dating the VMs, history & provenance | 9 Comments

The First Voynich Photocopies?

August 15, 2012

Comparison Notes- Original Ms. Photostats/Modern Images I became aware of the possibility that the New York Public Library had the original Photostats Wilfred Voynich made of his Bacon Manuscript, while reading the letters of Anne Nill on July 24th, 2012. She mentioned them starting about 1930, and how she and Ethel would send people to the NYPL to see the manuscript in this copy form, rather than over-handling the originalwhich they kept in a safe deposit box. Even so, they restricted the access to these copies, only allowing those who they felt might help them cement the attribution to Roger Bacon, or otherwise decipher the script or solve the mystery. They even discussed retrieving them from the library at one point, but then, a few years later, Nill further related that they decided to let the library keep them. But they do not appear in the librarys catalogs today. It was through my request to the manuscript department that the library sought them out from their archives. It seems they have been somewhat forgotten by the outside Voynich community, although of course the library was quite aware they were there. It does not seem they have been examined in years, if not decades. This set seems to be the very first set of photostats, or at least one of the earliest, made of the manuscript. Wilfred came to the USA at the outbreak of WWI, and set up shop here soon after. He was very interested in having the images available to researchers, and seems to have made this set by the late teens or early 20s. They are unfortunately not dated. But included within the box they are in is a set of some pages from Voynichs copy of Valturiuss De Ri Militari, and the head of the archives included a letter saying he prepared those copies in November of 1929. Perhaps these photostats of the Voynich Manuscript was prepared at that time, too, but I doubt it, as Newbold and others had seen photocopies by the early 20s. I cant say for certain without comparing these to Newbolds set in Pennsylvania, but I would imagine these date to the time of his at least, and he already wrote of the Voynich by 1921. Below are various observations I made while carefully comparing each and every page with the current, modern, JPEGs and SIDs offered by the Beinecke. F1r- The chemical stains may be there, but they are faint and less apparent than on the JPG and SID. The Signature is moderately visible anyway. E at the end of Tepence seems to be a capital, or at least have a lower loop not presently visible. Other than that, it looks the same as we see today, if not a bit darker. Being small on this copy, and not having a means of enlarging it, it is hard to compare to what we have now. Strings visible in binding, attached at top. Some sort of spine leather folded back. The letter column down right side appears darker on the photostats than now seen.

F10v- tear on 9v is visible to exactly the same extent in the original photostats, as it is in the modern SID. This implies the state of the binding close to that of 80 years ago. However, more of f16r the 1, appears behind the shot of f11r in the modern JPG. F13r- In this shot, there is inserted a blank scrap of paper behind it. In pencil notation is , No page 12. Note: After this point, the maker of the PHOTOSTATSs seems to have continued to insert paper behind the page, to avoid photographing the edges of ensuing pages beyond them. Not on all, but on many copies. F14v & F15r- stains are apparent on the PHOTOSTATS, at the top of the pages, as they are on the modern SIDs. I did not find any stain on the modern copies that was not on these early photostats that is, it does not seem to have suffered any staining since these photos were taken. F17r- The floral image which overlaps the number 17 is surprisingly darker on the PHOTOSTATS. It appears to have faded quite a bit. The lines seem thinner now, too. The stain around it is also darker on the PHOTOSTATS. Why? The different photographic process can account for some difference in contrast, but the information does not seem to be there, anymore, whatever the method used. More importantly, the marginalia at the top of the page is much clearer on the PHOTOSTATS- for instance, although smaller than can be made by enlarging the SID, the aw at the end is dark, sharp, and clear. The gallows in the second to last word is light, but still darker than the SID, and more obvious. The marginalia letters have clearly faded, also, and under the stain most of all. F38v- The smudge or stain on this page, which appears at near the top, and to the left of the plant, seems to be characters on the photostats, while too faded to discern on the modern SID. It seems to be 4an F40r- similar to the above case, the small smudge seen between the two lower right roots on the SID, is much darker, and appears to be either a cross, or a 4 voynichese character. F58v- A penciled note, f65 follows 58- which it does, of course. F67r- Smudge to the right of the page number 67 is darker and clearer on the PHOTOSTATS, and appears to be 67 with another small character after it (an e?), and all crossed out with one line. On the SID, this is illegible. F67r3- wheel is cut off shorter on the JPG and SID. The photostats shows several words, and more of the wheel, that the modern versions do not. Whether this is due to a fold in the newer shots, or if a strip of the page became detached and went missing since the photostats were

taken, I cannot tell without seeing the original. Ive drawn the few words visible, if anyone is interested in seeing them. F72v3- on the SID and JPG, the left side of the lion zodiac is not shown, whereas it is clearly photographed on the photostats. The flap was held back by a paperclip does this flap still exist, or have modern copiers simply failed to unfold it? It shows that circle to the outer ring, and clearly shows four more women with stars, along with associated writing. F73v- pencil notation, 75 follows 73, which it does. 85v1- The PHOTOSTATS shows a paper behind the right side of this, as though it is detached on this edge- my understanding was that this is now attached/bound along this edge. I cant make out why the difference a fold? I do not know the actual construction well enough t o equate the two possibles. Note: The PHOTOSTATSs are separated here with a cardboard sheet, and the ensuing four pages are on one sheet, then the entire rosettes pages are on two more. The Rosettes pages: Very nice, surprisingly clear copy. Those privy to examine these photostats pages really were not at much of a loss. The sharpness and clarity of them is really on par with the SIDs, and actually surpasses them in some ways. The rosettes are a good example the recent volcano image from Beinecke is seen here, almost in its entirety. The second tower in hole tower foundation is likewise here, whereas it was only recently seen again in the very newest image released. F90r- pencil note, p 93 follows p 90, which it does. F93r- pencil note, p 93 follows 90, ditto. F94v foldout- The first two sheets are pencil labeled, 95 1 + 2. F95v- penciled note, p 99 follows 96, which it does. 101v2- this is labeled 101 4 on the photostats. There also happens to be a note, Room 319 penciled on this- perhaps the NYPL room this was originally kept, or produced? F103r- The blur in the lower right corner of the modern SID seems to be more distinct in the PHOTOSTATS, and appears to be several voynichese characters, including an 8 but these are hard to make out. F107v through f111r, have penciled notes, p. 111 follows 108, which they do. Further notes: Box marked with printed, bright orange label, RESTRICTED. DO NOT SERVE TO READERS. It looks fairly modern, although the box is old. On the paper wrapping, in m agic

marker, is VOYNICH- Roger Bacon Ms., twice, then in thick pencil: Voynich Ms. of Roger Bacon- Restricted (Restricted underlined twice). Summary: There is nothing of great surprise, and no missing pages found, in this very early possibly the earliest set of photostats of the Voynich Ms. Well, perhaps if the unseen part of f67r3 (see above) is really missing now, then that is one portion that was preserved by these copies. But what is actually most surprising to me is that at this early date, there was this set of images which were so clear and complete. They are far better than what we had only a few years ago, before the JPGs and SIDs. Im not sure where the images in DImperios book, and various articles, came from but if they were from this master set, then whoever made the copies from them did a very poor job. They are even better than the B&W later offered by the Beinecke. But also of note is just how little, if at all, the manuscript has changed in 80 years almost one third more of its life has been added, and it has been handled far more in this time, probably, than in its missing 300 or so years in between Marci and Voynich. And if the few seemingly faded characters can be accounted for by differences in the photo process, or even by application of chemicals, or undue handling in those places, then the manuscript has held up well under all its modern scrutiny. But still, despite being so close to todays condition, there are small differences. There are possibly more differences which I did not notice, in fact there must be. For that reason these photostats become of interest in their own right. They were once simply a tool to avoid handling the original, but now they freeze in time the manuscript as it was first seen in modern times. Im certain many researchers will find different areas to compare, and in more detail, than I have in my 5 hour overview. Another consideration is that there is some damage to the photostats themselves, due to the photochemicals used some sepia and stains, possibly from the fixer. They are on paper, which I am not sure is of archival quality, and wrapped in brown paper, which also cannot be good. Perhaps the NYPL would consider investing in some good microfilm or digital copies of these photostats, so that they can be better preserved as they are. This would also allow them to be made more widely available, and possibly for download. They have a great value as a landmark in the life of the Voynich- a literal snapshot of what many who first wrote about the Voynich actually saw when they came to their conclusions. Rich SantaColoma, August, 2012. Tags: library, manuscript, new, public, voynich, york Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

The Antikythera Mechanism of Manuscripts

May 27, 2012

As I came away from the recent Voynich 100 Conference at the Villa Mondragone in Frascati, Italy, I found myself thinking of some old problems in new ways. Probably most useful to organizing my thoughts was my interview by Lisa Jackson and Bob Aschmann , the Sunday after the conference. Being asked some old and new questions, so soon after meeting and discussing everything Voynich under the sun, allowed me to organize my thoughts in some new and different ways. It was a sort of Voynich-therapy session. One question was why the Voynich has not been solved. I mean, in extremely simple terms, one might say, Because it is really, really, hard. But the question is, what makes it different than other hard problems? Why have the usual tools of scholarship been unable to crack this one? Or, unable to define it at the very least, if one accepts that reading it is not the paramount problem? I mean, we dont even know what it is. Well, there are those who will tell you they do know what it is, and what it is not, of course, usually adding the unusual disclaimer before the suggestion. But really, no one is satisfied, or this would be over. So why dont we at least know what it is, with certainty? In the interview, my answer to the question why?was, because I be lieve the Voynich resides outside of existing scholarship.

Unique: Like the Voynich?

Scholarship does not experiment, it does not imagine. It only compares, contrasts, and catalogs. In almost all cases, this works, because almost all of the world, and all of the knowledge within it, exists somewhere in known scholarship. But perhaps, not in the case of the Voynich- and this would then explain the loss of scholarship to explain it. What the Voynich really is is not in there, and so, scholarship cannot solve it. It certainly has not, and perhaps will not, ever. Ive often wondered why mainstream scholars have rejected various concepts I have proposed, and rejected some seemingly (to me) reasonable, common sense proposals of others. I could not understand why optics and fantasy were lumped in with aliens and crop circles. And then, at the same time, those same scholars have accepted some other, seemingly (to me) bizarre concepts which I will not relate, here. But I could not equate the two seemingly dispar ate judgments. Now, I think I have a clue as to why. I think my inability to understand this effect, this disconnect as I see it, was in my looking at all the ideas suggested for the Voynich, all the theories, on a sliding, empirical scale of normal to bizarre, while at the same time, failing to see one important, divisive, distinction: Ideas accepted by scholars and scholarship, no matter how outrageous, are assembled from examples from existing scholarship; rejected ideas always exist outside of accepted scholarship. And outside of scholarship to a dedicated scholar, simply means it cannot be. Without a category or existing example to compare it to, scholarship believes an idea to be impossible. Well, I can compare to various concepts within scholarship, but not to existing examples, and certainly as a whole, my ideas do not fit in any existing category. I suspect optics, for instance, and it is rightly pointed out there is no other 1610-1620 optical manuscript, or even a place for one. I see old vellum use, post C14, and Im told the scholarship does not allow it, as such a situation is rare, or unknown. There is not yet a category for works on old vellum, and when examples are found, scholarship tends to digest them as errors, or unimportant anomalies. Purple Cows, so to speak. And when I see a manuscript created as an artifact of scientific, utopian, fiction, as a sort of living Book M it is correctly pointed out I cant find another actual work to compare it to. Again, there is no category for such a document, as no such work is known to exist; they are only described in fiction. And when I show other works which were created to look like older texts, such as the Chittenden manuscript, it is pointed out, accurately, that they exist in their own category, which my specific case does not fit. And of course, scholarship will not create a category for what I suspect the Voynich is, An Artifact Born of Scientific Utopian Literature, until it is proven. I understand that. And therefore it is a vicious circle, a Catch 22, for my theories and proposals. I made a PowerPoint slide for the very end of my Voynich 100 presentation, which I erased the morning of the Conference. I have since been sorry I removed it. At the time I wanted to limit my presentation to three basic concepts. The erased slide was presenting a fourth, although a simple one, and entitled, The Antikythera Mechanism of Manuscripts? The Antikythera Mechanism is a Greek device, a highly complex, geared mechanical astronomical computer, now

dated to the first century BCE. Before it was found, it was not known that the Greeks, or any culture for that matter, would be remotely capable of building such a thing in its time and actually, incapable for at least another 1800 years. The entire scholarship of the Greeks, of science and proto-science, and of astronomy, and gear mechanics, did not have a category for such a device. When found, it existed outside of known scholarship. It has occurred to me, that if the Antikythera Mechanism were dropped into the lap of existing scholarship like a hot potato, without the shipwreck it was found on, scholarship would have failed to properly identify it. We would have been told that it was probably a highly advanced 19th century device. This, because there was no category, when found, for a first century BCE, complex, geared mechanical astronomical computer. In fact, scholarship created that category only grudgingly, as many at the time of its discovery believed the device must have fallen on the BCE wreck much later. And I will point out that the Antikythera mechanism is the only device in the very category made for it. It is stunningly, brazenly, truly: one of a kind.

Unique: Like the Antikythera Mechanism? It may be pointed out that the shipwreck, on which the Antikythera Mechanism was found, does in fact date the device. And this means that existing scholarship, in the form of marine archeology, has worked in that respect. And further, it might be suggested that there is an analogy between the shipwreck and the Voynich C14 dating and claim, again, that scholarship, with the acceptance and knowledge of carbon dating and dendrochronology, has worked in our case. But I might counter that both the errors I, and others, have found in the assumptions of use of old vellum practices, do easily allow that that the Voynich could have been made on old vellum, that the current provenance and ink tests on the Voynich do not disallow this, and lastly,

that to ignore the striking resemblance of many Voynich cylinders to early microscopes, is, in effect, ignoring the scholarship of early microscopes, and failing to use it as a comparison. And round and round we go, again. I can find, within existing scholarship, exceptio ns to the arguments against my theory. But without a category to place the Voynich in, as I envision it, or actual examples of what I propose it is, those exceptions will not be allowed by scholarship. So what is there to do, as I pursue this? Of course I will continue to use known scholarship for research. Although I feel it has not managed to give an answer, nor accepted mine, so far, I do hope that I may find some other such artifact as I suspect the Voynich to be, mis-categorized, or not as yet categorized. Perhaps there is some book, object, or device, or description of same, which also sprang from the same influences I suspect influenced the creation of the Voynich. And if so, maybe it will turn out it is not alone in its own box, as the Antikythera Mechanism certainly is. But meanwhile, while looking for that example, or waiting and hoping for a translation which puts the question to rest, I will look at the Voynich in the category I have created for it. Perhaps my new category will never be accepted, and no other examples ever be found, and perhaps the Voynich will never be proven to be what I suspect it is. And it may very well not be that thing, of course. But I still am not satisfied with anything on the list of proposals that existing scholarship will accept, or has proposed, so I must continue to look elsewhere. Tags: antikythera, manuscript, mechanism, voynich Posted in fantasy, optics, Rosicrucianism | 10 Comments

A Volcano in the Voynich?

April 21, 2012

The best way find answers to a tough problem is to ask the right questions, and the right ones are usually new ones. Asking the same old questions, over and over, will get one nowhere, because they usually produce the same answers. In the case of the Voynich, there must be thousands, if not millions, of good questions that have so far gone unasked. In the answers to those questions may be the golden nuggets which bring us closer to the answers we hope for. About a year ago, Tim Tattrie asked one of those good questions, and got a very interesting, and potentially valuable, answer. He was peering at the Rosettes foldout, as thousands had before him. But Tim wondered what the rest of the mountain, the one in the upper right rosette, might be. He did not assume what it was, he wanted to know. So he wrote the Beinecke staff, and asked them if they would open the fold a bit, and take a picture. Graham Sherriff of the Yale staff quickly sent him the picture. At the time he was told that the new pictures would be included in the online database, but a year or more went by, and they did not get around to it. So Tim asked me to announce the find, as he felt it might be of value and interest to others. I agree.

Under the Rosettes Fold As you can see, much was revealed under the fold of this area. Not only did the mountain reveal that it may, in fact, be a volcano, but also, the ramp like area leading up from the walledcity now shows a few more buildings. I wish I had this when I made my 3D rosettes and in fact I may add the volcano, and found buildings, in a new version.

Is this a Volcano? Well of course this may not be a volcano. Tim is pragmatic about it, and does not commit to that as an absolute identity. I dont either, as it could be many things. The Voynich does have various pipes which also seem to spew various substances. Are they, and this, meant to be gas? Air? Water? The quintessence? Perhaps this is meant to be a natural fountain, or Artesian well. And the effluent is not red or fiery in any way it is blue, like water. But I have to say that it looks a lot like a volcano to me. One could also assume that this is not meant to be a mountain at all, and that is lies flat, like a drain and so on. I dont think so. It is illustrated much like the other heights of the rosettes page, and the intent seems to be implying a hill or mountain. The reader is welcome to disagree, of course.

What is that effluent, then? Of course like many new discoveries in the Voynich, answered by these new questions, this one raises even newer questions. That is all good, I think. And also, when we see this new information, we might have a sense that it tells us something important , in its own right but frustratingly, we are not sure what it is that it tells us! For me, I will not miss the opportunity to point out a couple of implications. For one thing, I note that there have been several real places suggested for the upper right rosette. One of these has been Milan. I think that the discovery of this spewing mountain, probably a volcano, might warrant a re-consideration of most of of the previous speculation of this rosette as various places. If one is going to think of the rosettes as a real place at all, in fact an idea I wholeheartedly reject, as I think it is a fantasy land.. but if they are going to look at the castles, walkways and towers as real, then one must now look for a place which includes a spewing mountain, or volcano. And if one looks for such a fountain, it better be on a towering mount. And good luck with that.

Kircher's Volcano from "Mundus Suberraneus" But what might be valuable is to look at the history of volcanology, and also, how volcanoes have been perceived in mythology and fiction. Knowing what volcanoes meant to people, at different times in history, and how they have been illustrated, and for what purpose, will all be potentially valuable to understanding the Rosettes in a new light. I personally feel that Tim Tattries find is a very important one, not only for the actual illustration which was uncovered in this one case, but for what it tells us we must do in the future that we cant keep asking the same old questions, but we have to try to look for new questions, asked in new ways. I am certain that many other surprises await us if we do. Tags: rosettes, volcano, voynich Posted in Dating the VMs, fantasy, Uncategorized | 12 Comments

Proof of Concept
March 9, 2012

A proof of concept is an example of a similar situation to the one you are theorizing, which shows that some element of that theory may be possible. It does not actually prove the theory. It does not really advance the theory itself. What it does is rebut, to varying degree, the opposition or complaint that your theory cannot be possible. To what level it then shows the plausibility of the theory is a matter of conjecture, not really quantifiable, and subject to many factors some highly subjective. But a proof of concept is still very valuable, as it moves a theory into the realm of possibility. I have a list of various proofs of concept for my optical and New Atlantis theories, which address many complaints about that theory. But I recently came across a new, and very important example, which addresses several of the most common and widespread negatives, as voiced by those who do not think the theory likely, or even, possible.

Here is a list of some of the objections to my theory, which are all addressed by this recent find of mine: 1. No one would make a book to look hundreds of years older than it was. 2. Vellum was too expensive to use for all but the most important, and real, reasons. 3. The skill and time it would take to make a large vellum book would mean it was done only by dedicated scribes. 4. Blank vellum has always been very rare, and the later past its heyday, the rarer. And then I found the Chittenden book. Ironically, I was not even looking for it, I was looking at another book in the Lucius Chittenden collection in the University of Vermont.

Lucius Eugene Chittenden was born on May 24, 1824, in Williston Vermont. He became a lawyer, a historian, peace advocate, abolitionist, banker, US Treasury official, friend of Abraham Lincoln and a prolific book collector and lover. He took at least two trips to Europe, no casual feat in the 19th century. I first came across the mans collection because he happened to own a manuscript which I consider very similar to the Voynich. This Italian Herbal (see link), is attributed to the late 15th century, and written in two hands. The general style, coloring, and the habit of writing around the herbal drawings, I find strikingly close to the Voynich. As an interesting aside of the C14 tail wagging the dog, this very similar herbal is often sidestepped AS an example in Voynich research, as it is too late. But it was this paragraph, in the bio of Mr. Chittenden, that jumped out at me,

One of the more fascinating books in the collection is his own translation of Les Singularitez de la France Antarctique by Thevet (Paris, 1558). The volume is Chittendens work completely except for the fine morocco binding. Done on 100 leaves of vellum in Chittendens distinctive hand printing, with multi-colored initials, full page line drawings in ink, and marginal figures of soldiers, birds, and animals. . . (Buechler, pp. 45). And that is the book from which I have excerpted the samples in this post. They do not appear anywhere else on the internet, nor, apparently, are they reproduced in any book. And then, I would like to point out, this example would not be a subject of any study, in any university, and would be unfamiliar to any expert who was consulted on the subject of books on vellum made to look older than they were. It is part of what I have been learning is a new discipline, pretty much undocumented, and which stands alone. I only suspected, when I began looking, that such a category of book must exist, although I have been, and still am told, that it would not, and cannot, exist: An illustrated, colored manuscript made as recreation/adaptation of an older work, on vellum, made to look much older than it is.

(shhh! This does not exist.) So why did Chittenden make this work? I suppose we could easily deduce he loved the original, and wanted to produce his own copy. But he then took the time to translate it into English (it is a wonderful read, by the way, and ought to be published in its entirety). But while making this work, he chose to make it on vellum. He did so, I would again presume, to make it look old, like the original. And where did one find 100 sheets of unused vellum, in 1868? My previous research shows that blank vellum must have always been available, and I know it is, even today, so I am not too surprised at this. Perhaps he got it on one of his jaunts to Europe, or maybe he found an old stock in the United States. But there it is, he found it. And likewise, he found time to make it. This was a very busy man, by any standard. So rather than him needing to dedicate years or decades to producing it, he managed to serve Lincoln, the Treasury, his family, write several important histories about the civil war, slavery and politics in general and, on the side, write and illustrate a 200 page copy of a 300 plus year old book, and on vellum at that.

So what does this mean to my theories? Well it does not of course prove anything directly. But what it does is show that several of the concepts which are necessary to accept the possibility of the theory, were actually used, historically, by others. Of course this one example is from a later time than I suspect the Voynich was created, by 268 years. And we do not know when this vellum was made although I would love to see a C14 dating of it and so it does not support my contention that old vellum may have been used for the Voynich. But I have other examples that do that. What is most telling is that Chittenden wanted to make a book look 300 years older than it actually was, while I only suspect about 150 to 200 years for the Voynich.

My other proofs of concept have been outlined in other posts on this blog: The Chymical Wedding is a fictional book made in my time frame, and in cipher, and meant to look like an older work; then there are my examples of blank vellum lying around, historically, ready for use, and even, used for centuries (reinforced, again, by this new example); the low cost of vellum, historically; the use of fake books as props and art forms, from the late 16th century, to today and now I add the Chittenden book, which is a perfect, real example of a book lover finding enough blank vellum to letter and illustrate his own copy of a 300 year old book. No doubt there

will be objections of course I am quite aware of them, myself, in that I realize what this shows and what it does not. But at this point, for anyone to postulate that the Voynich cannot be made when and for what reasons I suspect it is, or even, that it is unlikely that this is so, really has the burden of proof from their perspective, not mine. Tags: chittenden, copy, illustrated, lucius, manuscript, thevet, vellum, voynich Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Prospero, who art thou?

November 21, 2011

It is popular to run to the historical visage of the famous physician, astrologer, and scrier, John Dee, as a probable influence whenever the stereotype of the bearded, crystal gazing, and berobed wizard appears in literature or mythology. Dee has been suggested for Soloman of Francis Bacons New Atlantis, Prospero of the Tempest, Faust of the Faust legends, and many other similar wizard-like personages over the centuries. And there is no doubt he has been the major influence on the archetype mage/wizard/alchemist/necromancer but is it always correct to look only to him as the sole source?

John Dee: The (almost) Universal Mage Icon John Dee has been suggested as an inspiration for the character of Soloman, the leader of the fictional scientific utopia of Bensalem, in The New Atlantis. But Rosalie Colie, in her 1955 article, Cornelis Drebbel and Solomon de Caus: Two Jacobean Models for Salomons House (Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 3, May, 1955), bypassed Dee. Instead she suggested that the Soloman of Bacons utopia could have been partially inspired by Cornelis Drebbel, the alchemist and inventor, and his contemporary, Solomon De Caus. This may be correct in part, for the

reasons she has given. Mostly her argument is based on the inventions and experiments described in Bensalem, and in that she does have a point. But rather than the model for the leader of New Atlantis, I personally think that Drebbel is more likely the model for the character who relates the story, who visits the island with his fellow shipwrecked crewmates. I feel this way for several reasons. First of all, back to reality: Drebbel was invited to Rudolf IIs court to present the Emperor with one of his perpetual motion clocks, which were the rage of Europe at the time. While there, Drebbel became Rudolfs chief alchemist, and also, purportedly, the manager and creator of the royal fireworks displays. In 1612, after Rudolfs brother Matthias usurped Rudolf, Drebbel was briefly jailed, and almost executed. It was with a promise of return, in a letter from King James, that Drebbel was allowed to return safely to London along with, significantly, a bounty of 1,000 ducats.

Cornelis Drebbel: The (sometimes) Mage Icon Now it would be expected that this near fatal sojourn of Drebbels would be familiar to Bacon and right around the time that Bacon was apparently formulating the concept of New Atlantis. In fact, the two men had rooms at Eltham Palace, Drebbel for his experiments in perpetual motion and hydraulics and artificial cooling; Bacon for well dont we wish we knew, exactly? But it is

reported he had rooms there, and so would have been familiar with Dre bbel and his experiments. But we dont have to guess, as Bacon did write of several of these that is, the cooling experiments, and underwater boats. And, of course, as Colie points out, many of these inventions appear in The New Atlantis. In any case, there is a parallel between the protagonist/relater of the New Atlantis story and Drebbel. Both men went away and visited a place where science and experiments were funded by the state. And both came back to report on their experiences there, and both received a bounty from the state on their leaving Drebbel, as I said, 1,000 ducats, and the New Atlantis narrator, 2,000 ducats.

Rudolf II The (never chosen) Mage Icon But then if not Drebbel or DeCaus, who would Soloman, the leader and founder of Bensalem, be modeled on? I feel he is more probably based on Rudolf II than John Dee, or Drebbel or De Caus. Like Rudolf, Soloman spent the fortunes of the nation on the pursuit of knowledge, and collected and honored those who achieved great things. The author of the work, Francis Bacon,

was promoting the idea that the state should fund scientific experiment, for the ultimate good of its citizens. Rudolf, for all his inconsistency and unpredictability, and his very short reign, was trying to do just this to collect and use all the scientific and artistic knowledge of the world, to solve problems and improve the state of humanity. Well, that and to make gold from lead, to fund his armies, and so protect his interests and position. Drebbel was more an experimenter in such a system, he was not a leader. Rudolf II was more the model and hope for, I think, a new beginning of state-run scientific funding and experimentation, and I believe he is the true model for Bacons Soloman. Also worthy of mention, with some parallel to the concepts of New Atlantis, is the experience of Tycho Brahe. He was given the island of Hven by the Swedish government, so that he could pursue his experiments in astronomy. This was purportedly at a greater cost to the nation, a full 7% of the national budget, than any previous or later funding of a scientific project. So in this story, we have an island, a scientist, and scientific funding no doubt this was of great interest, and possible influence, to Bacon, in writing of his similar concepts in his Utopia. And interestingly, Brahe was later welcomed into the court of Rudolf II, pet moose and all. So we might suspect a cross influence on the history of Brahe, to the story of The New Atlantis, even if I am correct and Rudolf was the model for Soloman. As for Faust, I cant disagree with an attribution, in part, to Dee. There was an actual Dr. Faust, which historians do believe was a partial basis for the character, while assuming that many of Dees attributes filled out the fictional character. Faus t plied his magic, but did not run a state, he was not a leader. Faust uses his powers for purely selfish ends. In the Marlowe version, Faust summons two magicians, Valdes and Cornelius, whose names are somewhat reminiscent of Basil Valentine, and Cornelius Drebbel. But I do not know if this has ever been an issue with scholars of Marlowe, and so it is idle musing on my part. At least, again, with his books and magic, the character of Faust is certainly reminiscent of John Dee, and not of Rudolf at all.

Faust! Watch out! He does not play fair! Drebbel is the accepted influence for the alchemist Subtle of Ben Johnsons The Alchemist. And Johnson had some interest in Drebbels work, we know, as he mentions his perpetual machine in another play. The Subtle character has his magic, and his books, but he is more of a charlatan than a respected purveyor of the Arts. From what I understand of Drebbels reputation at times, he may have owned a bit of a similar, negative reputation. But at least in this instance, the wizard of choice is Drebbel, and not John Dee.

Sir John Geilgud as Prospero... with prop book Finally, the character of Prospero, the magical Right Duke of Milan, is usually attributed to John Dee, and sometimes, in part, to Drebbel. And of course it would be hard to argue with Prospero being slightly autobiographical to Shakespeare, as many surmise. But I see other parallels which point again, for me, to Rudolf II. Prospero, like Rudolf, is a leader of his realm, while a Dee or Drebbel were really servants to the crown, merely participants in the society. I wouldnt insult the memories of either man with a comparison to either Ariel or Caliban. But like those two characters, they served, and did not lead. It is true that Prospero not only gives orders to his magical assistants, but also uses the dark arts, himself. But this alone should not label him Dee, as the same could be said of Rudolf, who had a great interest in the alchemic arts, and dabbled in his own experiments, and wandered about in a long robe covered with mystical symbols. Rudolf was somewhat Dee-like in his own right. Of greater interest, and possibly the trump card to my Prospero-is-Rudolf argument, is that Prospero was usurped by his brother, just as Rudolf was usurped by his brother, Matthias. Both men were nobles, who were unjustly thrown from power, and both, by their brothers. Of course the real story of Rudolf II ends there, in tragedy, while the story of Prospero begins 12 years

earlier, in tragedy, and ends in triumph. But I dont think that this coincidence should be ignored, especially considering the others I have noted. In addition, the timing of the play fits precisely it was first performed in 1611, the same year that Rudolf was forced from power. Seen in this light, the play could be seen as a hopeful, fantastic and imaginative dream, in which Rudolf, as Prospero, regains his throne from his brother. Unfortunately Rudolf died before the next known performance of the Tempest, which was at the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick of the Palatine. But this event also points to Rudolf as Prospero, because Frederick was groomed for, and tragically placed in, the very position Rudolf lost Holy Roman Emperor only a few years later. In a sense, if Rudolf failed to attain the retribution which Shakespeare may have imagined in the likeness of Prospero, Frederick succeeded if all too briefly. The Winter King lost his lands, and the title, in the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. But perhaps the running of this play at the wedding had a hopeful political message for the young couple, and for anyone who knew it was performed there, if I am correct.

Frederick V Elector Palatine & Princess Elizabeth: "Starcrossed" does not come close to describing what happened next. The historical and contemporary concept of the bearded mage certainly has much to owe to John Dee, but it would be unfair to exclude the powerful influences and contributions to the wizard lore that Rudolf II and Cornelis Drebbel made, especially when consi dering the context at which such wizards were written into literature. All our Prosperos were not, and are not, John Dee. Perhaps not even the original Prospero, the Rightful Duke of Milan or, should that be of Austria-Hungary? Tags: dee, drebbel, faust, john, mage, prospero, rudolf ii, shakespeare, tempest, wizard Posted in history & provenance, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Old Blank Vellum Sitting Around?

June 30, 2011

It has often been claimed, both before and after the release of the radiocarbon dating of the Voynich leaves, that it would have been either unlikely or impossible for the books creator to have found old vellum to make it from. This assumption has been used to presume the manuscript must have been made soon after the radiocarbon date of the vellum, which is approximately 1404-1438. It has been said that the cost of vellum and parchment throughout history has meant that it would not have ever been stored, blank, for long periods of time. And furthermore, the case of the palimpsest has been used to show that the value of vellum was so great that the religious scribes painstakingly bleached and scraped ancient manuscripts to reuse them. While all these may be true to some extent, during some times, in some places, what I have found is that it is not at all improbable that a Voynich author may have come across a batch of old, blank, vellum somewhere and also, considering that some of the presumed intentions of said author, it would have actually been a choice more likely than one for your run of the mill herbal or astrological treatise. Back in 2007 I began looking for examples of blank vellum on the internet. I quickly found a book dealer named Pirages, who was advertising 20 or more sheets of what he described as, RULED BUT OTHERWISE BLANK VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAVES, which, he said, wer e from the 16th century. Apparently they were from some book, which was falling apart, because he believed they were possibly from the previous entry a catalog entry which was gone by the time I saw the listing. Unfortunately, all 20+ leaves had also been sold by the time I contacted him, for $35 a piece. The point remains that in 2007, a person with a knowledge of historical ink formulas could have made a 40 page Voynich Ms. which would have radiocarbon dated to the 16th century. And, done so, for about $700. That is assuming that these leaves were too small to fold into quires, which would have then allowed an 80 page Voynich. ******************************************

Further searching revealed a book which was and is still on the market, the PRO TONOTARII APOSTOLICII, or Bullae et Statuta Officii Septem Sedis Apostolicae Protonotariorum In Curia Romana Participantium. It is offered by Michael Sharpe Rare & Antiquarian Books, for $95,000. This book is entirely in vellum, and was first created in 1523. It was then used for entries, continuously, until over 300 years later, the last entry being 1839. But it is not finished: The book remains for sale, today, with 44 blank leaves, comprising 88 blank pages, measuring about 11 1/4 x 8 1/4. So again, if you have the money, and the knowledge of historical inks, your summer hobby could be to make an 88 page Voynich rival and when Arizona got its hands on a sliver or two, it would reliably date it to 1523.

Protonotarii Apostolicii, 1523, with 88 Blank Vellum Pages

****************************************** Listed in the Huntington Librarys periodical, Miniature Book News, #65, June, 1990, is this listing, The second volume is an odd little manuscript bound in a metal binding which was probably produced in the late fifteenth century. It contains 154 vellum leaves of which all but three are blank. The page size is 3 7/8 inches by 2 7/8 inches. The text is only three odd leaves from a Book of Hours. The first leaf contains fifteen lines to the page with the capital letters in gold and blue. The text is in Latin. The second leaf contains fourteen lines and is an elaborate leaf with a floral border. The text, in Latin, concerns the Virgin Mary. The third leaf contains fifteen lines to the page with capital letters in gold leaf over various colors. The text is in Latin. Apparently the three leaves in the center of the volume were thickened by the blank vellum leaves in order that they would fit inside the metal binding. Well that would make a cute little Voynich, so write small! But at least it would make up for number in what it lacks in size, for you would have a full 302 page book when you were done. And there would be some head-scratching among manuscript scholars after Arizona got through with it (if you mixed your inks well, and not in brass containers, either), for it would apparently date to 1450 to 1500. ****************************************** In 2008 the British House of Lords had a decision to make. It seems they had some blank parchment left over, after making the decision to finally after a millenia or more? stop using it for official purposes. Below is the letter I found. Dear Mr.Todd, Thank you for your e-mail of 24 July. It may be helpful if I clarified the position as far as Acts of Parliament are concerned. William Cowley Ltd. supplies vellum to our printer The Stationery Office. The costs include those for printing. The unused vellum held by the House administration will be used for the construction of the Roll of the Lords (and not Acts of Parliament). Members sign the Roll when they take the oath. We do not hold recorded information relevant to your questions concerning the stock of vellum held by the administration. However, I have spoken to a colleague who deals with the Roll. He informs me that there are approximately 100 sheets. Given the limited use it is likely to take some time to exhaust this supply.

Frances Grey Freedom of Information Officer House of Lords It was probably not very old, I think we might assume. But it was blank, and it was in storage. Should we assume this same case did not exist in 1450, 1500, 1550, 1610, or 1912? Can we assume that for the first time in history, a government agency over-bought vellum, and was not sure what to do with the excess? Do we know that the author of the Voynich Ms. had no access to any such government stores? One is welcome to speculate these cases have always been impossible, up until 2008, but I cannot. ****************************************** What was the case in the 19th century? I found in the Royal Commission on Historic Manuscripts, 1870, page 69, the following listing, A series of loose vellum leaves, large folio, once bound together, the boards still remaining Next follows, on a series of like vellum leaves, a Calendar, in which the latest date is the 34th Henry 6 (A.D. 1456) of all grants by deed made by the Royal Founder Then follows, after some dozens of blank vellum leaves, a Catalogue of the College Library Ill take some dozens to be more than two dozen but lets be conservative and begin there. We know that in 1870 there existed (and probably does exist, today), 24 to 36 or more blank vellum leaves, equaling 48 to 72 or more blank vellum pages, which would carbon date to pre1456. ******************************************

105 Blank Vellum Leaves For Sale The above screenshot is from a dead link, so I would assume the item has been sold. No estimate for the date of this book was given, and the sellers never wrote back to me when I asked. But as they are a Rare and Old Book seller, this is obviously not referring to some recent product. The description reads,

Volume of 105 blank vellum leaves of 313 x 205 mm, with 3 blank leaves of paper at beginning and end, in old plain vellum binding, blind triple line fillet on covers. Not that I need to point this out, again, but with this little volume, whomever bought it, could make a nice little 210 page Voynich replica.

Look familar? You could have owned all 210 blank vellum pages, last year... And so on. Every so often, I search the internet for such examples. There are dozens more cases of between one and five or so, blank vellum or parchment leaves left blank, but this of course was standard practice to fill out the ends of books. I did not save those references. But examples such as the ones I list above, are easily found, today. There must be many more cases which I have not found, and which may have not made it onto online lists. The point is obvious, but Ill summarize nonetheless: It is very possible that the Voynich could have been created at almost any date after 1438, from old, found, blank vellum. The fact that even today, ancient blank vellum leaves exist in quantity, reasonably implies it would have always been so. If a person desired to create an old-looking manuscript, at any time from the 15th century to today, they could have found a usable pile of old vellum, in the back of an old book, unused ledger, government archives, or a dusty old storeroom. Adding to the proven existence of such vellum is the often assumed importance and value of the Voynich to the creator of it. The vellum was out there, we know and the Voynich author probably had every incentive to find it, and use it whoever that was, and whenever they made it, from 140 4 until 1912