On 14/02/11 3:09 PM, Steven Bellovin wrote: > http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-experts-age.html >
Well that puts it out of the range of Roger Bacon, doesn't it? Or does it? For those of us who have wondered what the Voynich manuscript is about after seeing Chapter 23 of Kahn's book 'The Codebreakers' (2nd edition), the page of the Voynich manuscript used as an illustration can be found here: http://voynichcentral.com/gallery/Quire-13/f77v?full=1 934KB, 4428 × 5609 David Kahn writes of it's history from 1666, consistent with the radio carbon dating: Mystery has beclouded the manuscript since its recorded history began. That was on August 19, 1666, when Joannes Marcus Marci, the highly respected rector of the University of Prague, sent the book to his former teacher, Athanasius Kircher, the most famous Jesuit scholar of his time. Kircher had, three years earlier, published a book on cryptology and a universal language, and had boasted of having solved the riddle of hieroglyphics. In a letter accompanying the book, Marci recalled that the former owner of the book had sent Kircher a portion of the text for possible solution. To that work the owner "devoted unflagging toil...and he relinquished hope only with his life. But his toil was in vain, for such Sphinxes as these obey no one but their master, Kircher. Accept now this token, such as it is and long overdue though it may be, of my affection for you, and burst through it's bars, if any there be, with your wonted success." Bars there were, but Kircher, who never shrank from bragging of what he thought were his successes, did not burst through them, for his silence on this point is eloquent. -- From the article found in Physorg: Currently owned by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University, the manuscript was discovered in the Villa Mondragone near Rome in 1912 by antique book dealer Wilfrid Voynich while sifting through a chest of books offered for sale by the Society of Jesus. Voynich dedicated the remainder of his life to unveiling the mystery of the book's origin and deciphering its meanings. He died 18 years later, without having wrestled any its secrets from the book. -- The book having apparently languished since 1666 in the hands of the Society of Jesus, without further challenge. There being purportedly providence to show the presence of the manuscript at the court of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. (The Kahn book). Marci speculated apparently incorrectly that the author was Roger Bacon, although you could ask if the work had been copied. A commonly held belief of those who have attempted decryption since WWII is that it may be an artificial language (Friedman via Tiltman). There's a Scotsman named George Dalgarno (1626-1687) accredited with being the author of the first artificial language and contemporary until 1659 of John Wilkins, a founder of the Royal Society and author of An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language. There is anecdotal evidence of the scribes at the Library of Alexandria being able to perform so accurate copies, that they could be substituted for the originals being returned to the unwary owners in what ever language. Even writing down a cipher or artificial language might be a remarkable feat for an original author when you note high quality penmanship exhibited. Worthy of the scribes at the Library of Alexandria. Discounting the manuscript being a copy seems premature. There's nothing in the notes on Chapter 23 that point directly to a source for the Marci reference. The likely source one of the 20th century books on the ciphers of Roger Bacon. You could also speculate after reading the chapter that Dr. John Dee may have had the skills to duplicate an earlier work. Apparently Brigadier Tiltman collaborated with David Kahn on the subject. T http://www.nsa.gov/about/_files/cryptologic_heritage/publications/misc/tiltman.pdf (Pages 57, 58, brief mention) There are one or two sites you can download fairly high res images of the entire manuscript. http://voynichcentral.com/gallery/ http://www.voynich.nu/gallery.html This one shows there are 10 pages of the document not available see MS Folios. David Kahn claims 204 pages, with 28 lost. Likely a difference in counting. There appears to be nothing new known about it's origin or contents other than it not being produced or copied later than 1666. The Wilkins/Dee connection and computer analysis not performed by Friedman in the '60s are likely avenues of further investigation. While Dr. Dee introduced a sign language for communicating to the deaf, Wilkins appears to have gone further in 'philosophical language'. The book could have originated shortly before 1666 and not been copied, should the idea for an artificial language not have been plagiarized from Roger Bacon. Personally I'd hold out for the author being John Ray (1627 to 1705), a contributor to Wilkins book, an author on botany, zoology, and natural theology and author of Historia Generalis Plantarum - 3 vols 1686, 1688 and 1704. The Voynich manuscript perhaps containing earlier record of his classification system. Ray is the first to use the notion of species as a term in biology and showed that tree rings record the passage of time. His admission to the Royal Society enabled by John Wilkins in 1667. Answers require successful cryptanalysis. _______________________________________________ cryptography mailing list [email protected] http://lists.randombit.net/mailman/listinfo/cryptography
