It’s different from the books you’re used to reading. Not a picture book, not a storybook, but a mysterious book that has puzzled scientists for more than a century. Yep, this time we will discuss the history of the Voynich Manuscript, the most mysterious book in the world.
The Voynich Manuscript or Voynich is a book that contains many illustrations of drawings and writings from a language that was never known before. It was first purchased by Wilfrid Voynich from a Polish book dealer at the Italian Jesuit college in 1912.
After buying it, Wilfrid felt puzzled, who wrote this book? Where did it come from? What language is this book written in? and many other questions.
This confusion led Wilfrid to take the book to America where there were many scientists who would help him solve the book’s secrets. Research was conducted, cryptologists tried to decipher the language, but they could only conclude one thing. The language used in the book was genuine and not just a scribble, but the bad news was that this language had never been discovered before.
What led the researchers to believe that the book was in the authentic language was that the letters were very consistent, very similar to a typical book where letters are often repeated. In addition, the font shapes and variations make it very difficult to say that the writings in the book were made automatically. The style of writing can also tell if the book was written by two or more people.
Manuskrip Voynich
For more than a century, there have been many theories about the contents of this book, but there are three main theories that are widely used by scholars. First, the book was created in a cipher to hide its hidden intentions. Second, the book is a fake.
It has been suggested that the book was written by a medieval impostor, with some even alleging that Voynich was the impostor. Third, the book was indeed written in the original language but in an unknown language.
From these three theories, many researchers tend to favor the third. It is possible that this book was written by a language from a civilization that existed in the past but has since disappeared without leaving a trace.
If that’s the case, it could be that this book is actually an encyclopedia of past cultures. Although these theories have yet to be solved, one thing is for sure, there are still many things in this world that we do not know.
Currently, the Voynich Manuscript is housed at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, so if you’re traveling to America, make time to visit Yale University to see this book.