Over the last few days here at Cipher Mysteries, I’ve had all kinds of ups and downs with the website, mainly to do with excessive levels of spam (which triggered account suspensions, etc). Anyway, I’ve now turned all the security dials to 12 (Spinal Tap must have got it wrong, because 11 apparently wasn’t high enough) and have added yet more Heath-Robinson bodgery to the webmaster scripts and configurations: fingers crossed it will make a positive difference. And I’ve finally got outgoing mails working again (how annoying was that?!), *sigh*

Regardless, it’s spring cleaning time: that is, time to clear out my short term collection of Voynich cultural mini-links, some of which you might even like. Arty Voynich appropriators first:-

‘Modestly’ (Anne Corr) is offering a 32-page hand-made book comprising images from the Voynich Manuscript. She says:-

There are eight folded pages each with four illustrations printed onto a lovely textured watercolour paper chosen for its excellence in print quality and longevity. I have used a coptic stitch with a faux leather cover, finished with a faux leather tie. It certainly gives the impression of a medieval book.

I hope she’s talking about her own book: as if we haven’t got enough trouble with Voynich theorists who similarly claim that the Voynich itself “gives the impression of a medieval book.” *shakes head, sighs*

Rather less obviously crafty is New Zealander Baron’s Selection, who (virtually) offers T-shirts via Zazzle themed around “Philosophy, Politics, general ‘intellectual’ stuff.” One is called Voynich #1 T-Shirt (f67r1), and the other Voynich #2 T-shirt (Scorpio).

Incidentally, I once won a big box of promo T-Shirts for suggesting that the right question for the answer “Above a grocer’s shop in Grantham” was “What was the setting for Ben Elton’s ‘Inferno’?” All of which was a very long time ago indeed, however you try to slice that particular gala pie.

And now we move on to Voynichian musicians.

Melbourne music producer Andrei Eremin has recently put out a track called Voynich Manoeuvre. I actually quite like it, but it has got a certain 9pm-in-a-Shoreditch-restaurant vibe to it that’s hard not to notice: music to drink overpriced urban cocktails to. But perhaps that’s the point, I don’t know.

Anyway, Arcadia Studios TV has a YouTube interview with Nelson Rebelo of rocking Portuguese underground band The Voynich Code to promote their debut single ‘Antithesis’: here’s the official video for it. The guitar lick at about 4:19 is quite cool, though the whole band then goes into a sequence where they all look they’re playing air guitar, even though most of them are holding guitars. Which is a bit odd.

All the same, my son points out (correctly, it has to be said) that Antithesis is hard to distinguish from the awesomely dark the Lego Movie Batman song, though The Voynich Code’s version possibly still gets the vote (by a whisker). But feel free to make up your own mind, pop pickers! And that’s just the first verse… 😉

Finally: some proper Voynichian miscellany.

Was the (15th century) Voynich Manuscript written in the (1987-vintage) conlang Lojban, perhaps through some kind of trickery involving Leonardo da Vinci and time travel? You know the answer already (I can only hope), but though this April Fool’s Day paper was inspired both by Talbert and Tucker and by Stephen Bax, the way it deciphers “penis” and “darseBar” surely combines technical correctness with historical mastery in a way that the preceding three authors can only dream of emulating in the future. Enjoy!

3 thoughts on “Spring 2014 Voynich Miscellany…

  1. bdid1dr on April 15, 2014 at 3:48 pm said:

    Technical correctness, eh? I’m surprised that you still find Bax and various ‘expert’ linguists interesting enough to further comment on their ridiculousness. They are sabotaging their own efforts by converting their web offerings to videotape. So, take a look at the cloth manuscript I mentioned yesterday (Guatemalan, with Hapsburg coat of arms in upper left corner). It beats present-day cartoon drawings ‘by a mile’!

  2. bdid1dr on April 17, 2014 at 1:17 am said:

    I’m now on the prowl of B-408 — in search of any mention or illustration of the sapodilla tree and its fruit. However, the sapodilla was most important as the source of another type of ‘rubber’ which could be ‘chewing gum’ (chicle/tzictli), latex/rubber, or even for incense. Chicozapote is another name for the sapodilla tree.
    When I lived in Key West (corner of Southard and William Streets), sapodilla trees were tempting to children. Until they encountered the thorns (of which, so far, I’ve found no mention). Bees and wasps were other frequent visitors when the blossoms and fruit developed. I don’t recall seeing anyone tapping the trees for sap. I’m ‘ancient’, but still am able to relate (and translate) a lot of medieval literature/manuscripts. So, I’ll be keeping an eye out for VMs/Boenicke Ms 408 for script which might be spelling Aztec/Mayan words such as chicozapote, chicle, tzictli, or even ‘sa-po-tl-i’. Chiclets brand chewing gum was, for a long time, made with sapodilla latex. Some downloads, today, also discuss the use of ‘tzictli’ for rubber-soled sandals worn by just about all medieval South Americans.
    🙂

  3. bdid1dr on April 18, 2014 at 8:14 pm said:

    Nick, on an even older front: Is it possible that B-408 may have been a rough draft of ‘excerpts’ from the “Mirror of Human Salvation” “Speculum Humanae Salvationus” ? There are manifold discussions on the WWW and various links to various university holdings. Fascinating! First published right about the time Fr. Sahagun would have been studying and preparing for his ministry to the ‘New World’.
    The more excited I get, the more erratic my contributions seem. I am so glad that I can still read at a max-speed of some 800 wpm. If only my typing could be as fast; but I’ll settle for roughly 60 wpm! Please let me know if I am irritating you.
    Fond friend 🙂

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