The Voynich Manuscript

by Raymond Clemens (Editor), Deborah Harkness (Introduction)

Overview

The first authorized copy of this mysterious, much-speculated-upon, one-of-a-kind, centuries-old puzzle

“For the first time, a complete reproduction [of] The Voynich Manuscript, has been published, featuring essays exploring what is known about the book and extra-wide margins so readers can record their responses to its beguiling, beautiful strangeness.”—Nina Maclaughlin, Boston Globe

“For people who like a good historical mystery, this . . . fifteenth- or sixteenth-century Voynich Manuscript will fascinate.”—Rebecca Onion, Slate
 
Many call the fifteenth-century codex, commonly known as the “Voynich Manuscript,” the world’s most mysterious book. Written in an unknown script by an unknown author, the manuscript has no clearer purpose now than when it was rediscovered in 1912 by rare books dealer Wilfrid Voynich. The manuscript appears and disappears throughout history, from the library of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to a secret sale of books in 1903 by the Society of Jesus in Rome. The book’s language has eluded deciphering, and its elaborate illustrations remain as baffling as they are beautiful. For the first time, this facsimile, complete with elaborate folding sections, allows readers to explore this enigma in all its stunning detail, from its one-of-a-kind “Voynichese” text to its illustrations of otherworldly plants, unfamiliar constellations, and naked women swimming though fantastical tubes and green baths.
 
The essays that accompany the manuscript explain what we have learned about this work—from alchemical, cryptographic, forensic, and historical perspectives—but they provide few definitive answers. Instead, as New York Times best-selling author Deborah Harkness says in her introduction, the book “invites the reader to join us at the heart of the mystery.”
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300217230
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	11/01/2016
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	49,355
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 12.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Raymond Clemens is Curator of Early Books and Manuscripts at the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library and coauthor of Introduction to Manuscript Studies. Deborah Harkness is a historian of science, professor at the University of Southern California, and the author of the New York Times best-selling All Souls trilogy.

Editorial Reviews

For the first time, a complete reproduction [of] The Voynich Manuscript, has been published, featuring essays exploring what is known about the book and extra-wide margins so readers can record their responses to its beguiling, beautiful strangeness.”—Nina MacLaughlin, Boston Globe

“For people who like a good historical mystery, this first authorized publication of the fifteenth- or sixteenth-century Voynich Manuscript will fascinate.”—Rebecca Onion, Slate

“Handsome and well-produced. . . This facsimile and the accompanying series of essays give a clear sense of the current state of knowledge on the manuscript and reveal the findings of new research.”—H. R. Woud Huysen, Times Literary Supplement

“The Voynich MS has inspired generations of enthusiasts dedicated to deciphering it. . . . This beautiful facsimile will make it available for many more people to become enticed and entranced by it.”—David V. Barrett, Fortean Times

“The Voynich Manuscript, a volume edited by the library’s curator Raymond Clemens, revivifies this tantalising artefact. . . . Wide margins are deliberately provided for readers’ notes on their own ideas. ‘Bonne chance!,’ writes Clemens. I’ll second that.”—Andrew Robinson, Nature

“The publication by Yale University Press of an actual-size colored facsimile, with an informative set of specialist essays on the manuscript’s history, materials, cryptological puzzles, and public impact, will no doubt encourage wider engagement with its enigmas and set off a multitude of amateur as well as professional attempts to decipher it.”—Eamon Duffy, New York Review of Books

“Bibliophiles rejoice—one of the book world’s most fascinating and enduring riddles is now available for all to examine. The so-called ‘Voynich Manuscript’ is proof that, even in our increasingly demystified world, mystery is still alive. . . . For the first time, Yale has reprinted the manuscript in full, in a gorgeous new edition coupled with scholarly essays on the book. All told, the new edition should continue to stoke interest in the eternally mysterious artifact.”—New Criterion

“A mouthwatering facsimile of the incunabulum, complete with foldout pages—one origamied into six folios—and a handful of scholarly interrogations.”—Peter Lewis, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“[A] very high-quality reproduction of the manuscript . . . [and] the essays are valuable additions to the facsimile.”—Jesse Siragan Arlen, Comitatus

“This volume sets out clearly and succinctly the current state of knowledge about this remarkable manuscript.”—Toby Burrows, Parergon

“Absolutely no one completely understands the Voynich manuscript, . . . [but] now readers can explore a complete reproduction of this indecipherable text, accompanied by essays that seek to make sense of it all.”—Jennifer Byrne, Mental Floss



“This new book, reproducing the entire Voynich Manuscript, is a godsend. While the essays offer valid clues to the manuscript’s age and relation to late medieval science, the manuscript itself stubbornly refuses to yield its secrets.”—Roger S. Wieck, Department of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Morgan Library & Museum

“A book worthy of its subject in every way. Clemens and his collaborators have done an extraordinary job teasing out some of the secrets and wonders of the enigmatic Voynich Manuscript in ways that will make this volume an invaluable resource for many years to come.”—Bruce Holsinger, author of A Burnable Book

“Many hands have held Voynich’s now-eponymous book over the centuries . . . yet none of them have managed convincingly to solve its mysteries.”—Deborah Harkness, from the Introduction

From the Publisher

"perhaps studying these pages in the hope of unlocking secrets is to miss the point. It’s almost as though the book exists in order to make the inquiry into its existence possible."—Jamie Martin, London Review of Books 27 July 2017
 
 

London Review of Books - Jamie Martin

"Sumptuous facsimile reproduction […] Jennifer Rampling’s judiciously sceptical essay […] is a careful deconstruction of over-excited theories."—Kathryn Murphy, Apollo

Apollo - Kathryn Murphy

“As handsome a new book as you could own. This medieval beauty has it all: fold-out sections. Delicate illustrations of plants, astrological charts, what look to be alchemical recipes… But the main thing about it— the thing that makes publishing it so quixotic— is that it’s a book you can’t actually read. Nobody can.”—Sam Leith, Prospect

Prospect - Sam Leith

“Many hands have held Voynich’s now-eponymous book over the centuries . . . yet none of them have managed convincingly to solve its mysteries.”—Deborah Harkness, from the Introduction

Deborah Harkness

“A book worthy of its subject in every way. Clemens and his collaborators have done an extraordinary job teasing out some of the secrets and wonders of the enigmatic Voynich Manuscript in ways that will make this volume an invaluable resource for many years to come.”—Bruce Holsinger, author of A Burnable Book

Bruce Holsinger

“This new book, reproducing the entire Voynich Manuscript, is a godsend. While the essays offer valid clues to the manuscript’s age and relation to late medieval science, the manuscript itself stubbornly refuses to yield its secrets.”—Roger S. Wieck, Department of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, The Morgan Library & Museum

Roger S. Wieck

“A mouthwatering facsimile of the incunabulum, complete with foldout pages — one origamied into six folios — and a handful of scholarly interrogations.”—Peter Lewis, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune - Peter Lewis

“For people who like a good historical mystery, this first authorized publication of the fifteenth- or sixteenth-century Voynich Manuscript will fascinate.”—Rebecca Onion, Slate

Slate - Rebecca Onion

“The Voynich Manuscript, a volume edited by the library’s curator Raymond Clemens, revivifies this tantalising artefact… Wide margins are deliberately provided for readers’ notes on their own ideas. ’Bonne chance!’, writes Clemens. I’ll second that.”—Andrew Robinson, Nature

Nature - Andrew Robinson

“For the first time, a complete reproduction [of] The Voynich Manuscript (Yale University Press), has been published, featuring essays exploring what is known about the book and extra-wide margins so readers can record their responses to its beguiling, beautiful strangeness.”—Nina Maclaughlin, The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe - Nina Maclaughlin

“The publication by Yale University Press of an actual-size colored facsimile, with an informative set of specialist essays on the manuscript’s history, materials, cryptological puzzles, and public impact, will no doubt encourage wider engagement with its enigmas and set off a multitude of amateur as well as professional attempts to decipher it.”—Eamon Duffy, The New York Review of Books

The New York Review of Books - Eamon Duffy

“Bibliophiles rejoice—one of the book world’s most fascinating and enduring riddles is now available for all to examine. The so-called ‘Voynich Manuscript’ is proof that, even in our increasingly demystified world, mystery is still alive. . . . For the first time, Yale has reprinted the manuscript in full, in a gorgeous new edition coupled with scholarly essays on the book. All told, the new edition should continue to stoke interest in the eternally mysterious artifact.”—New Criterion

New Criterion