

The result of that test put the date the manuscript was made between 14. In 2009, University of Arizona researchers performed radiocarbon dating on the manuscript’s vellum. Much of the early history of the book is unknown, though the text and illustrations are all characteristically European. The text is written from left to right, and most of the pages have illustrations or diagrams. Some of the pages are missing, with around 240 still remaining. The manuscript is named after Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish book dealer who purchased it in 1912. The vellum on which it is written has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438), and it may have been composed in Northern Italy during the Italian Renaissance. The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex hand-written in an unknown writing system. He explained that he owned a mysterious book that was written in an unknown script and was profusely illustrated with pictures of plants, stars and chemical secrets. In 1639 the Prague citizen Georgius Barschius wrote the above lines to the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher in Rome. The Historical Facts of the Voynich ManuscriptĬumque in mea Bibliotheca Sphinx quaedam, Scripturae incognitorum characterum inutiliter occupasset locum, … Ex pictura herbarum, quarum plurimus est in Codice numerus, imaginum diversarum, Astrorum, aliarumque rerum, faciem chymicorum arcanorum referentium, conjicio totum esse medicinalem If the codex is studied very carefully and over time, it is revealed that there are remnants of 2 ancient languages peppered around the book.Ĭan this book be the journal of a traveller from another world, or perhaps someone who went there and back? Could these cosmological maps be the key for a way to pass from this to that world? The book is written from right to left, which you’ve seen before but, surely, not in these lands. What is even stranger? The book is written in a language you’ve never seen anything like before.įurther investigation reveals that many of the 240 pages of the codex unfold to display greater detail and that some of the pages are missing all together. The pages of the hand-written book seem to be filled with illustrations about astronomy, exotic plants, beasts and animals you’ve never seen before, pharmaceutical and culinary recipes, and, finally, some very odd looking cosmological maps.

“Going through the books laying around in the attic your attention is drawn to an old-looking, hard-leather covered, thick book. We’d love to hear about the stories and adventures you wrote with them – be sure to detail them in the comments below! You can subscribe for more writing hooks, or find them on Facebook or Twitter. Sure Hump-Day can suck, but we’ve decided to turn it into a *Hooray-Day* by releasing a new writing hook every week! Each edition will feature an image of an artefact, a complementary writing hook, and a little about its historical provenance, with a further reading option.
