The Voynich "Roger Bacon" manuscript secrets--presumably magical or scien tific and possibly containing a formula for an Elixir of Life--continue to defy deciphering efforts after almost four centuries, as this amazing history shows. Bought about the year 1586 by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, who had a keen interest in magic and sci ence, the Voynich manuscript consists of some 200 pages, with many unusual anatomical, botanical, and astronomical illustrations. The work was thought to be that of Roger Bacon, the ...
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The Voynich "Roger Bacon" manuscript secrets--presumably magical or scien tific and possibly containing a formula for an Elixir of Life--continue to defy deciphering efforts after almost four centuries, as this amazing history shows. Bought about the year 1586 by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, who had a keen interest in magic and sci ence, the Voynich manuscript consists of some 200 pages, with many unusual anatomical, botanical, and astronomical illustrations. The work was thought to be that of Roger Bacon, the thirteenth-century English philosopher, who had a reputation for being a magician, and whom legend credited with discovery of an Elixir of Life. The writing, presumably in cipher, defied decipherment by Rudolph's scholars, and the manuscript passed in the eighteenth century from Prague to Rome, and in 1912 to America, when it was bought by Wilfrid Voynich, a rare-book dealer. In 1921, William R. Newbold claimed to have solved the cipher, but his claim was disputed by John M. Manly, who gave the manu script the sobriquet "the most myste rious manuscript in the world." In the 1960s the manuscript was acquired by the Beinecke Rare Book Library, and Robert S. Brumbaugh, a philosopher at Yale who had served in military intelligence during World War II, became interested in it, and began what has turned out to be a decade of effort to unlock the secrets of the cipher. In the course of his investi gations Brumbaugh brought together a collection of essays tracing the manu script's history, which form the basis of the present book. Brumbaugh himself in 1972 identi fied the "alphabet" used in the cipher, and read plant and star labels, but the text has resisted application of the al phabet. Efforts to transcribe and de cipher the manuscript continue, and this book is a contribution to the efforts to reveal the secrets of medieval science, philosophy, and linguistics still locked in "the world's most mysterious manu script."
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Add this copy of The Most Mysterious Manuscript: the Voynich "Roger to cart. $25.76, good condition, Sold by Friends Tucson rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tucson, AZ, UNITED STATES, published 1978 by Southern Illinois University Press.
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Seller's Description:
Hardcover. NOT Ex-library. Good condition. Mylar cover on dust jacket, NOT taped to book. Slight edgewear and bumping. Clean pages and tight binding. Page edges soiled. Proceeds benefit the Pima County Public Library system, which serves Tucson and southern Arizona. Previous owner's name inside. Until further notice, USPS Priority Mail only reliable option for Hawaii.
Add this copy of The Most Mysterious Manuscript to cart. $39.00, very good condition, Sold by Millennium Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hamden, CT, UNITED STATES, published 1979 by U. Of Illinois.
Add this copy of The Most Mysterious Manuscript: the Voynich "Roger to cart. $59.41, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1978 by Southern Illinois University P.
Add this copy of The Most Mysterious Manuscript: the Voynich "Roger to cart. $75.00, very good condition, Sold by Grendel Books, ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Springfield, MA, UNITED STATES, published 1978 by Southern Illinois University Press,.
Add this copy of Most Mysterious Manuscript: the Voynich "Roger Bacon" to cart. $151.00, very good condition, Sold by Shoemaker Booksellers rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gettysburg, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1978 by Southern Illinois University Press.
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Seller's Description:
Near Fine in Very Good jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 175 pp. w/ index. Full black cloth; touch of edge wear, small black spot on upper edge of front pastedown, else near fine. Contents fine. Several half-tone illust. Pictorial dj; slightly rubbed, else very good. This science or natural philosophy manuscript, in cipher or code, thought to be the work of Roger Bacon, a 13th century English philosopher. Work of late medieval science: medicine, botany and astronomy. Several scholars who study the original write chapters in this study. One article by David Kahn, author of Codebreakers.
