The Voynich Manuscript: Alchemist’s Handbook Or Historical Hoax

How is it that a 15th century book has withstood every modern attempt at deciphering its contents? Is it possible the book is an elaborate hoax, or could it be written in an encoded language we have yet to understand? If it is finally decoded, what great secrets might we unlock?

The Voynich manuscipt is a 240 page volume written by hand during the 15th century. It was named after a Polish-Lithuianian-American book dealer by the name of Wilfred M. Voynich. While we know he acquired the book in 1912, we don’t know any of the history prior to that date. So, did Wilfred Voynich propose a hoax to the world with its discovery? As it turns out, the book is authentic, as is the ink on its pages. While it’s possible the book itself holds no credibility, the hoax couldn’t be of Voynich’s doing.

Scientists around the world have studied the pages and have verified their authenticity. The book is definitely real, but we find ourselves wondering if the words on them have any real meaning.

During World War II, the Germans used a code known as the Enigma cipher, which was thought to be unbreakable; however, the Polish Cipher Bureau managed to break the code just prior to the war. How is it that modern codebreakers are unable to break the Voynich code? Could a 15th century man have created the perfect cipher? If so, for whom did he intend the contents of the book to go to and what is written on its many pages?

We managed to find a copy of the document online here, The Voynich Manuscript, and decided to have a look at it. Though the text is a bit faded, it’s still very legible, and all written by hand. The first thing we noted as we went through the pages was the fascination with plants. Were they included for decorative purposes, or did the surrounding manuscript have something to say of them? We decided to dig further in.

As we attempted to read through the manuscript, many of the words seemed very much alike. Also, most of the words were six to eight letters in length. Also, while there are clearly paragraphs throughout the work, we could find no signs of punctuation. This doesn’t resemble any language we’re aware of, but we need to remember that this is probably an encoded document. Why? Because, at the time the church ruled over everyone’s daily life, and works revolving around alchemy were considered heresy – which back then was punishable by death.

Is it possible that the code somehow combines words? We considered that as we attempted to read through it. For example, a very simple way to create such a manuscript would be to write it all out front to back and then interleave the letters from the back to the text in the front. We’ll provide a sentence as an example of what we mean:

This is encoded  (written forwards)

dedocne si sith  (written backwards)

Tdheidso cinse esnic esdiehdt  (forwards and backwards interleaved)

When written this way, we begin to see something resembling the Voynich manuscript, but even if this method was just used on a per-page basis it would mean creating two copies that would need to be destroyed later, and it would have taken tremendous concentration to perform. While it’s an interesting way to crudely encode a manuscript, we would think that modern codebreakers would have already thought of this.

But what if it’s a hoax? If it is, what would be the reason for perpetrating it?

During the middle ages, illiteracy was on the rise. Even those of noble birth could barely read. With this being the case, the possession of a library of books was considered a sign of intellectualism. the topic mattered little, so long as it was beyond the ability of a common man to read it, which made technical documents a huge commodity.

All one would need to do during this time was produce a book, make a false claim that only the intellectual elite could read it, and then charge a handsome sum for the work. No noble would admit to not being able to read such a document and anyone shown the book would face ridicule if they admitted to the work being beyond their scope of knowledge. Without doubt this happened often during this time, but few (if any) of these books have survived to this day.

As people became more literate, it seems certain these false works were ferreted out and tossed aside;  however, the Voynich manuscripts ornate decorations inside might have spared it the same fate. Possibly considered as exquisite as it was fraudulent, the owner decided to hold onto it. From there, the history of the book was lost as it was passed on from hand to hand into the present.

Without doubt, the Voynich manuscript will continue to haunt us with the possibility that it possesses ancient secrets, but more than likely it’s just a well-disguised fraud perpetrated centuries ago. Regardless, it’s fascinating to peruse through its pages, knowing we’ll likely never know the author not it’s possible contents.