A complete presentation of all the plates of the wonderfully illuminated medieval manuscript - the most mysterious art book in history has still not been deciphered - an illuminating essay introduces history and interpretation.
The Voynich Manuscript (named after Wilfrid Michael Voynich, who acquired the manuscript in 1912) is a handwritten medieval document that is said to have once been in the possession of Rudolf II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
The content of the manuscript is still a mystery. It contains floral and anatomical as well as cosmological, biological and pharmaceutical sections with wonderful illustrations that cannot be clearly assigned geographically; the typeface is even more of a mystery: since its discovery in 1912, no one has succeeded in deciphering the text. At regular intervals, someone reports the decipherment, but it always proves to be scientifically untenable. A few folded gaps in the pagination show that pages have been removed.
Our book shows the entire surviving manuscript with all the carefully produced drawings and the indecipherable text. Its beauty can be rediscovered with the help of numerous detailed illustrations and close-ups.
An essay by Vera Pache introduces the work and the use of graphic elements guides the reader through the book. In his essay, Klaus Schmeh explains the most important attempts to decipher the work over the past 100 years.
The original is in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, catalogue number MS 408.
