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Paul Ferguson
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Posted: Thu Sep 9th, 2010 02:44 pm |
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Not exactly new (1978), but D'Imperio's book on the Voynich manuscript, which some see as being partially alchemical in character, is available as a free .pdf from the National Security Agency:
http://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic_heritage/center_crypt_history/publications/misc.shtml
I suggest right-clicking and saving as left-clicking seems to cause problems.
Sections 7, 8 and 9 are especially relevant.Attached Image (viewed 6432 times):
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adammclean
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Posted: Thu Sep 9th, 2010 03:20 pm |
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In 2009, the University of Arizona performed a radiocarbon dating of the parchment. Four samples from different locations in the MS were individually tested. The combined date of the parchment was established as ranging between 1404 and 1438 with 95% probability.
Some researchers have disputed the accuracy of this dating, but even with some recalibration it is still dated to the middle of the 15th century. This has led to many of the theories about the manuscript having to be abandoned as they relied on a different historical context.
It is a fascinating manuscript. A great deal of work has been done in the last decades to try to decipher the "text". The failure of all of these attempts, makes one think that the "text" may just be decorative and without meaning. The imagery, on the other hand can be more easily read and contextualised.
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Paul Ferguson
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Posted: Thu Sep 9th, 2010 05:09 pm |
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adammclean wrote:
In 2009, the University of Arizona performed a radiocarbon dating of the parchment. Four samples from different locations in the MS were individually tested. The combined date of the parchment was established as ranging between 1404 and 1438 with 95% probability.
Some researchers have disputed the accuracy of this dating, but even with some recalibration it is still dated to the middle of the 15th century. This has led to many of the theories about the manuscript having to be abandoned as they relied on a different historical context.
It is a fascinating manuscript. A great deal of work has been done in the last decades to try to decipher the "text". The failure of all of these attempts, makes one think that the "text" may just be decorative and without meaning. The imagery, on the other hand can be more easily read and contextualised.
Has anything in the Voynich imagery ever struck you as especially alchemical? Does anything in the Voynich 'ring a bell' with you alchemically?
http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/voynich.html
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adammclean
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Posted: Thu Sep 9th, 2010 05:59 pm |
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I don't see any alchemical references in the images in the Voynich. The Herbal section seems to me to be an imagined series of plant forms, copying the style of manuscript herbal. The astronomical diagrams seem straightforward and derived from or copying the style of astrological images of that time. The balnealogical section bears some similarities to manuscripts of the Peter of Eboli poem. The last section seems to me to be essentially an attempt to analyse the structure of plants, with views of leaves, roots and stems. In this section some people see what they call "jars" and suggest these were alchemical vessels. I, instead, read these images in their context as cross sections, or deconstructions of plant and tree stems, with the various layers of plant tissues.
http://www.alchemywebsite.com/voynich_graphic_analysis.html
Last edited on Thu Sep 9th, 2010 06:00 pm by adammclean
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