New annotated edition of the Voynich manuscript published
The publishing house Favoritenpresse has published a book in which all pages of the Voynich manuscript are illustrated and some additional information is included. There is also a contribution from me.
If someone asks me about my favorite book, I answer: “The Voynich Manuscript – difficult to understand, but tremendously exciting”. This statement is not meant quite seriously, but it is quite correct. Hard to understand, is the Voynich Manuscript, because it is encrypted (or at least looks like it). Exciting is the matter, because the Voynich Manuscript is one big riddle. Accordingly, I have blogged about this extraordinary book many times and written about it in my books.
Quelle/Source: Beinecke Library
The original Voynich manuscript is a single item held at the Beinecke Library in the USA. All page scans are available on the Internet. There are also already several reprints. The expensive ones are facsimiles intended to be as close as possible to the original, while the affordable editions are mostly ordinary books with all pages printed and some additional information.
A new edition
A few months ago, I was approached by Bodo von Hodenberg of the Berlin publishing house Favoritenpresse. Mr. von Hodenberg was planning a new book in which all pages of the Voynich manuscript would be reproduced and additional information would be included. He asked if I would tax a contribution for it in the form of an epilogue. Of course, I agreed.
A few days ago the work appeared. The title is (who is surprised) “The Voynich Manuscript”. It is a high-quality designed book, which is available for 30 euros.
Quelle/Source: Favoritenpresse
In the book, there is a detailed preface by the journalist Vera Pache, which tells the story of the famous manuscript. My epilogue is mainly about the countless decipherments of the text, none of which has yet been recognized as correct by the experts.
In addition, I mention in the epilogue the attempts to explain the text of the manuscript as a meaningless string of characters – an approach that seems to me much more promising than the numerous cryptographic and linguistic attempts. Especially the autocopist hypothesis of Torsten Timm seems plausible to me. Unfortunately, this is so simple and unspectacular that it is often overlooked.
There are also some comments in the main part of the book. Through these it becomes clear that the Voynich manuscript is divided into several parts.
Quelle/Source: Favoritenpresse
A lecture
This book by the Favorite Press is certainly ideal for anyone who wants to have the Voynich manuscript in book form on their shelf. And of course the epilogue alone is worth the purchase price 😉
On the occasion of our cooperation, Bodo von Hodenberg then immediately arranged for me to give a lecture on the Voynich Manuscript, which will take place on December 3, 2022 (Saturday) as part of the publishers’ festival “Wir machen Bücher” in Berlin. Perhaps one or the other reader from Berlin has time and desire to come.
If you want to add a comment, you need to add it to the German version here.
Follow @KlausSchmeh
Further reading: Häufig gestellte Fragen zum Voynich-Manuskript
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13501820
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/763282653806483/
Letzte Kommentare