TABLE OF CONTENTS & Constant references.

Constant references are listed first.  Then the series of themes explored with a summary of the posts for each.

Bibliographies for the first  

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CONSTANT REFERENCES:

• Jim Reeds’ Voynich Bibliography (Voynich-related publications from 1914-2001).

• Wilfrid M. Voynich, ‘A Preliminary Sketch of the History of the Roger Bacon Cipher Manuscript’, Transactions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Vol. 43 (1921).  p.415.

• Professor Romaine Newbold, ‘The Roger Bacon Manuscript’, Transactions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Series 3: Vol.43, (1921)  pp. 431- 474. Section occurs pp.456ff.

• Katherine Ellison and Susan Kim,(eds),  A Material History of Medieval and Early Modern Ciphers: Cryptography and the History of Literacy, (2018).

• Jim Reeds’ Mailing List –  for years 2000-2005. For Thread Index  (e.g. http://voynich.net/Arch/2000/01/maillist.html). else search http://voynich.net/Arch/ with year   (e.g. http://voynich.net/Arch/2002/) plus month (e.g. http://voynich.net/Arch/2002/03/).

• The earlier archives (1991- 2001) are available zip files, ordered by year, at http://voynich.net/reeds/vmail.html

• FINDING MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS – page from NYU.  Many links.

• [pdf] Mary d’Imperio, The Voynich Manuscript: an elegant Enigma, NSA. (original file)

• [pdf]  ibid. A cleaned-up copy which was later made available.

• The Classical Astrologer blog. Also contains sources for information about classical, medieval and comparative astronomy. Note – some translations from the Arabic (e.g. names for Ibn Arabi’s lunar mansions) have alternative names or alternative translations.

• Robert Singerman, Jewish Translation History: A Bibliography of Bibliographies and Studies (2012)

• Philip Neal’s site. Transcription, translation and commentary on the seventeenth-century documents plus bibliographies and more.  I suggest you bookmark it – though, for the record, I’m not endorsing Neal’s position on the manuscript’s origins, character or provenance. Addresss is philipneal.net

• The Code Book: the science of secrecy from ancient Egypt to quantum cryptography – a freshman’s guide by Simon Singh (University of Califonia, Los Angeles). Downloadable pdf.

• Information on recent codicological and palaeographic research see:

• Vladimir Dulov’s blog (in Russian). A fresh scholarly voice providing acute observations and solid sources.  Not ‘hypotheticals’ or quasi-historical narratives. Highly recommended.

• Lisa Fagin Davis, working with the Shoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies.  Involvement of the Shoenberg Institute, with its experts in comparative codicology has been at the very top of my personal Voynich ‘wish list’ for some years now, ever since I realised that the content – not the manufacture – speaks to regions, ideas and peoples outside Latin Christian Europe.  I’m sure the manuscript’s study will now move forward rapidly along the sort of careful, informed, conservative, non-hypothetical line that has been needed for so very long.  Cheers all round! (All we need now is additional input from Beit Arie.

• ‘Medieval Pigments: Creation and Analysis – a convenient basic guide – a bibliography of online links.  From University of Georgia, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

• Codícología. A very good site for comparative codicology. In Spanish, but automatic Googletranslate does a fairly good job. You may get a notice in Spanish that you’ll must wait a few seconds for a page to adjust to your browser.

CONTENTS

Themes

§1.The Study’s Past in Review. (Posts 1 – 10):

An enciphered text?; the “Bacon ciphertext” idea;  medieval Books of Secrets. The supposed ‘gunpowder cipher’. The Friedmans and Military cryptanalysts. Friedman meets the art historian Erwin Panofsky. Friedman presents his ‘Questions’ – Panofsky’s response in 1954.

§2.Specialist Opinions Re-examined. (Posts 11-17)

Panofsky’s privately-given opinion in 1932; Richard Salomon’s opinion on a line of marginalia;  ‘Not One of Mine’ – when specialists in medieval western European art, script and sciences were consulted – as they were before the 1960s, their conclusion was – unanimously – ‘not one of mine’.

Cultural and Psychological ‘Blocks’ affecting the Friedmans and d’Imperio’s Elegant Enigma.’ Posts 18 & 19.

Theory-driven approaches spread from cryptanalysis to all aspects of the study from the early 2000s.  (Post 20)

§3.Expert Opinion versus Materials Science (Posts 20-27).

Voynich myths; the Beinecke Library’s website; Beinecke’s codicological description of the manuscript; R.S. Brumbaugh, H. O’Neill and others who, though qualified in one field, assumed themselves competent to pronounce on all aspects of the manuscript. examples of persons qualified in one area assuming competence in all. Beinecke Facsimile edition’s ‘Materials Science’ essay – marred by an editorialising hand; ‘Weed seeded’ fictions in Voynich studies; Gap between the theoretical and the investigative approaches illustrated.

§4. (Post 50).  Lisa Fagin Davis and specialists at UPenn’s Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection.

§5. What Magic? Where Magic? (Posts 51-59)  Investigating the roots of a ‘magic Voynich’ theory.

Not Wilfrid’s idea; not so much Newbold’s idea; not the Friedman’s idea.  Just an idea floated late in the NSA’s involvement. Made much of in d’Imperio’s Elegant Enigma. Blind Spots.

§6. Following the manuscript’s lead (Posts 60-62)… from magic to codicology and astronomy.

§7. “Pharma-“? (Posts 63-73) Re-considering the manuscript’s “leaf-and-root” section. 

Posts & sources

Theme 1: THE STUDY’S PAST IN REVIEW

(Posts 1 – 5)

Post 1.  ‘Cipher versus language – assertions and bundles’ (November 20, 2018)

Post 2.  ‘Provenance: Wilfrid-style and real-world’. ( November 24th., 2018).

Post 3. Wheat from the Chaff – ‘Bacon ciphertext’ (December 15, 2018)

[PAGE] Addendum to ‘Roger Bacon and ciphers. …. 

Post 4.  ..  ‘Books of Secrets and the ‘Secretum secretorum’ (December 19th., 2018)

Post 5. ……….. Hime’s ‘gunpowder cipher’ (December 23rd., 2018

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FRIEDMANs AND MILITARY CRYPTANALYSTS.

(Posts 6 – 10)

Post 6. Military cryptanalysts – Prelude (December 28th., 2018)

Post 7. …….: Interrogatories of 1954 (Jan. 3rd., 2019)

& Post 8. …….. The ‘Art Group Four‘ (Jan.8th., 2019)

Post 9. ……..  Friedman and his questions (January 15, 2019)

Post 10. ………….  Panofsky’s responses of 1954. (Jan. 19th., 2019)

Panofsky’s identification of the month-names as ‘regional French’ followed up by later researchers

• • 1997 Dennis Stallings published a list of bibliographic and other items relating to Occitan in the first mailing list (10 Feb 1997) including the important note (later and independently stated by Artur Sixto  (comment to ciphermysteries, February 17, 2011) ) that Occitan and Catalan – or Judeo-Catalan – are closely similar.

  • 2004 Shaun Palmer looked at the orthography in detail in 2004.

  • 2009, Pelling credited Stolfi.   In other posts, Pelling thought it most like the dialect of Toulouse.  Pelling first, and others including Don Hoffman later, noted a closely similar orthography on astrolabe inscriptions dating to c.1400. 

  • 2011 Artur Sixto’s comment was made (February 17, 2011) at ciphermysteries.com, saying he thought the forms closer to Judeo-Catalan, and commenting on use of that dialect among emigrees into north-western France. Because so many comments were made to the same post by Pelling I quote here the whole of Sixto’s comment:

  • To me the months [names] seem to correspond slightly better to Catalan than Occitan. June for instance, spelled with “ou” corresponds to Catalan pronunciation, in French writing. “ny” would be Catalan relative to Occitan “nh” or French/Italian “gn”. So the person might have ties with the North of Catalonia (and could have a French influence) …. Interestingly, many Jews in Catalonia spoke Catalanic, a Catalan dialect close to Shuadit, i.e. Judaeo-Provençal (i.e. Judaeo-Occitan).

  • 2015 Commenting at Stephen Bax’s blog (May 18, 2015 – 11:14 pm) ‘Don of Tallahassee’ [Don Hoffman] noted similar forms for month-names used in Picardy, his examples taken from calendars in fifteenth-century Books of Hours.

Panofsky quotes Richard Salomon’s interpretation of somemarginalia … “de Mussteil”-  followed up by later writers such as Koen Gheuens – see blogpost ‘Der Musdel: Law in the Margins‘. and also see d’Imperio).

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Theme 2: SPECIALIST OPINIONS RE-EXAMINED.

Specialist Opinions – Erwin Panofsky (Posts 11-15)

• Post 11.  Panofsky’s comments of 1932. (Jan 27th., 2019)
• Post 12.  notes on Panofsky’s comments of 1932 –  Pt.1 (Feb, 1st., 2019)
• Post 13.           ”              ”         ”           ”      ”    – Pt. 2  (Feb. 7th., 2019)
• Post 14   Hesitations      ”         ”           ”       ”    -Pt  3 (Feb. 11th., 2019)
• Post 15   Kabbalah         ”         ”           ”       ”   – Pt.  4  (Feb. 15th., 2019)

Post 16.  Specialist Opinions –  Richard Salomon. (Post Feb. 18th., 2019).

**Specialist Opinions. Post 17. ‘Not one of mine’ (Feb 25th., 2019).**

Summary, citing Panofsky, Fr. Petersen, Salomon, Barrett, McLean, Sprague, Singer, Thorndike.

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EDITORIAL – ‘FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN’.  Posts 18 -19

Post 18. …. (Editorial) Fear of the unknown – and raft ‘Elegant’ (March 16th., 2019)

• Abstract: “This post considers the effect on the manuscript’s study of excessive confidence when combined with social bias…”

Post 19.  …. Fear of the Unknown and raft ‘Elegant’. Pt 2 – the white wall.

Post 20. Theory wars – an illustration (April 7th., 2019)

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Theme 3: EXPERT OPINION vs MATERIALS SCIENCE

posts 21 – 27

Post 21.     Voynich myths  (April 16th., 2019)

• Example – the myth of ‘Roger Bacon’s telescope’. (and ‘spiral galaxy’ idea)

Post 22:   The Beinecke Library – its Voynich website – (April 16th., 2019) and Robert S. Brumbaugh.

Post 23 The Beinecke Library –description of the manuscript’s quires. (April 26th., 2019)

Post 24: _____ Pt 4:  working – or not working – within one’s capacities (April 16th., 2019)

• • • Feynman: “It doesn’t make a difference how beautiful the guess is. It doesn’t make a difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is… If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. That’s all there is to it.”

Post 25:   Beinecke facsimile technical essay.  Codicological science versus the ‘editorialising hand’ (May 11th., 2019)

Post 26: ‘Weed seeds’ in Voynich writings. How  ‘canonised myth’ emerges. (May 24th., 2019)

Post 27: ‘Retrospective justifications’.  On the gap between  theoretical and a technical approaches (May 25th., 2019

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THE SKIES ABOVE – (Posts 28-49)

The Month-folios, with ‘March’ (f. 70v-1) as paradigm. 

This series contained original research by the present author. I’ve now (19/11/22) closed off most of it and removed the title-links to those posts.  The few which are still available are linked below with their abstracts. leaving a few (linked) plus abstracts and some readings.

Post 28:  Skies above  [Pt.1] – background and methodological legacy. (August 17th., 2019)

Post 29: ————mSkies above – Pt.2. ‘asteriskos’  Codicological details and the ‘asteriskos’ motif. (August 18th., 2019)

Post 30  ________ Part 3: ‘To tail or not to tail’ (August 27th., 2019)

Posts 31-49  Readers wanting more information can write to me  – (voynichimagery AT gmail dot com).

• Post 31:  ________ Pt 4 Past studies (September 6, 2019).
• Post 32: ________ Pt.5 bodies in baskets (September 12, 2019).
• Post 33 ________ Pt 5b  Star and basket (September 21, 2019).
• Post 34 ________  Pt 5c Proportion and desire in folio 70v (September 27, 2019).
• Post 35 ________ Pt 6a  Adding and removing layers (October 4, 2019).
• Post 36 ________ Pt 6b Due (pro-) portion. (October 12, 2019).
• Post 37 ________ Pt 6c Methods, ideas and attitudes – and the ‘foreign’ in Voynich studies.   (November 10, 2019).
• Post 38 ________  Elevated souls Pt.1 (moral character) (November 24, 2019).
• Post 39  ________ Elevated souls Pt 2a. ‘Astro —-‘ (December 1, 2019)
• Post 40 – Past studies Criticism, scholarship and reviews – an incidental post (November 5, 2019)
• Post 41 ________  Elevated souls Pt 2b. ‘Astro —-‘Base bodies’ (January 11th., 2020)
• Post 42  ________ Horoscopic charts or ‘clock o’ clay’ —-‘ (January 31st., 2020)
•  Post 43 ________ Chronological strata Pt.1 (February 6th., 2020)
•  Post 44 ________ Skies above – not astrological (February 9th., 2020)
•  Post 45 ________  Skies above: Certain measures Pt.1 (February 27th., 2020)
•  Post 46 ________ Skies above: certain measures Pt 2: presence and absence (March 9th., 2020)
•  Post 47 ________ Skies above: Certain measures Pt.3a Absences and avoidances. (March 14th., 2020)

–   hiatus – COVID break March 2020-May 2021 –

• Post 48  ________ Certain measures Pt 3b – Preface (May 6th., 2021)
• Post 49 ________  Certain measures 3b Preface – addendum. (May 20th., 2021)

Theme 4: NEW INSIGHTS

• Post 50.   New Voynich research  Lisa Fagin Davis – an incidental post. (May 24th., 2021)
• Post 49 ________   Ending the “skies above/certain measures” series. (May 31, 2021)

Theme 5: WHAT MAGIC? WHERE MAGIC?

(Posts 50-62)

ORIGIN OF THE ‘MAGIC VOYNICH’ IDEA

Post 50. Pt.1 – Wilfrid Voynich?  (June 6, 2021).

Post 51.  Pt.2 – Newbold? (June 10th., 2021).

Post 52     3a: The Friedmans? (June 15, 2021).

Post 53. __3b: historical consciousness. (June 22, 2021).

Post 54. _ 3c: time shifts. (June 23, 2021).

Post 55. ___ 3d: Germanic opinion and German scholars. (June 29th., 2021).

Post 56 _ 4. Whose magic? (Jul 5th., 2021). Putting a  Voynich notion to the test.

Post 57 __ 4.2 Whose magic? Byzantium – Spain. (Jul 11th., 2021)

Blind spots.

Post 58 ___ 5a: ‘occulted’ blind spots and artisans. (Jul 18th., 2021)

Post 59 ________  Recap of the [Magic?] series so far. (Jul 23rd., 2021)

Theme 6: FOLLOWING EVIDENCE..

From magic to codicology and astronomy. (Posts 60-62).

Post 60 __ 5c: Green stars (67v). Initial observations. (Jul 24th., 2021).

Post 61  __ 5c (Cont.) folio 67v – Seeing as others saw. (Jul 29th., 2021)

Post 62. __ 5c: Green stars – concluded. (July 30, 2021)

Theme 7: “PHARMA-“??

(Following the evidence #2) Re-considering the ‘Leaf-and-root’ pages.

(POSTS 63-73)

Post 63. Potions and lotions – the ‘pharmaceutical’ section. Perfect antiquity and a Voynich legend. (August 4, 2021).

Post 64. ‘Pharma’ – Pt 2-i. the legend. (August 9, 2021).

Post 65. “Pharma”? Pt 2-ii. glass? (August 15, 2021)

Post 66. Glass and the pearl band. (August 19, 2021)

Post 67.  ‘Pharma’ – the routes. (August 25, 2021)

Post 68.  the ‘Pharma’? section – Catalogue mode. (August 29, 2021)

Post 69.   Pharma’? – getting the goods.( September 4, 2021).

Post 70.  Pharma? Red Cylinders. Bases. (September 11, 2021)

Post 71.   Two essential readings for Voynich revisionists. (September 14, 2021).

• • Jonathan Jarrett, ‘Seminars CCXLVIII & CCXLIX: dismantling expectations about statehood from Sicily and Sidon‘, A corner of Tenth-century Europe (blog) 13th September, 2021.
  • Tim O’Neill, ‘The Great Myths 13:The Renaissance Myth‘, History for Atheists (blog), August 28th., 2021.

Post 72  ‘Pharma’? – and f.13r (September 27, 2021)

Post 73   Pharma? – What’s the problem? (October 18, 2021).

Post 87 ..   Maths & memory Pt 1. Jan 13, 2022.

——————-

• Miscellaneous. General and personal notices.
• ‘Swallowtails’October 8, 2021
• Swallowtails – foreword.October 7, 2021
• Dear email-correspondents … Pt 1.October 5, 2021
• An identification emended.   Oct 25, 2021.
• Dear email correspondents #2 – Method.  Nov 5, 2021.
• The good news. 1. Codicology. Nov 8, 2021.
• Good news. 2. Publishers’ review. Nov 10, 2021
• Statement of bias Mar 27, 2022.
• ‘What are you working on now?’- a reply. Mar 31, 2022.
• Historical note – Magister Beradus. Apr 4, 2022.
• Notice to the authors… Jun 23, 2022.
• Why I refer so often to Nick Pelling. Jun 2, 2022.
• Interim Post: Nails in the wood – symbol of resurrection. Sep 14, 2022.
• Voynich blogs. Oct 7, 2022.
• Note to Anton Alipov. Oct 21, 2022,
• Poor Beinecke  Oct.24th., 2022.
• Voynich Conference- Uni of Malta program. Nov 4, 2022 at 10:28 AM
• Fake emails Nov 19, 2022.
• Addendum to ‘Notice to Katie Tucker’ Jan 22, 2023.
• ‘Weaving the Voynich’ -reprint by request. Dec 16th – updated from Dec 10, 2022.