Analogues

Digitised manuscripts of interest

On this page I provide links to a selection of digitised manuscripts on the web which I regard as relevant to the Voynich manuscript. Some were chosen for their negative evidence (it seems to me that the Voynich 'astronomical' pages bear little resemblance to works of mediaeval astronomy): others are simply scientific manuscripts which caught my eye.

Anybody wishing to acquire a feel for Western manuscripts in general is well advised to study the Cologne University site. This large, relatively intact collection illustrates some basic generalisations about manuscripts.

Most manuscripts were written in Latin.
Most manuscripts were theological in content
Most manuscripts were copies, not autographs
Most manuscripts were not illustrated
Most manuscripts remained in the region where they were written
Most manuscripts are datable by their script to within a century

University of Heidelberg

Cod. Pal. germ. 164

Heidelberger Sachsenspiegel
German
East central Germany, early 14th century
The earliest compendium of German law, relevant to der Mussteil

Cod. pal. germ. 300

Konrad von Megeburg, Das Buch der Natur
German
Hagenau 1442-1448
An important scientific compendium, illustrated

University of Salzburg

MII 180

Medical-scientific compendium
Latin and German
Alsace 1438-40
Vessels and roots in the style of the pharmacological section (2 images).

MIII 45

Medical manuscript
Latin Salzburg, 1459
3 images, pity there isn't more.

Melk Benedictine Abbey

Cod. 601

Astronomical compendium
Latin
Austria, c. 1400

The Schoenberg Collection at the University of Pennsylvania

LJS 26

Johannes de Sacrobosco: Algorismus, Tractatus de Sphaera
Latin
Italy s.13
An important Latin work on astronomy.

LJS 226

Astronomical diagrams
Latin and English
England and Spain s.15
Circular diagrams with letter labels, similar to the VMS star circles.

LJS 57

Hebrew astronomical manuscript
Hebrew, Hebraeo-Spanish
Catalonia s.14
Beautiful illuminations of the Zodiac imposed on star maps. Note that the stars are represented by circles not asterisks.

LJS 382

Alchemical compendium
German, Latin, Czech
Vienna s.15
A compilation of recipes for making aurum potabile. Straightforward instructions, not disguised in the allegorical language of later alchemy. The illustrations of alembics on ff. 15-26 are slightly reminiscent of the VMS balneological diagrams. The simple cipher on ff. 57-60 shows how naive encryption could be in the relevant period.

LJS 384

William of Conches: De Philosophia Mundi Latin
France s.12
A summary of astronomy, geography, meteorology and medicine. Some pen and ink astronomical diagrams. Material on childbirth has been censored.

LJS 191

Astrological treatise
English
England
1490
Uses the astrological symbols as ideograms in the text. Introduces the signs of the asterisk, square, triangle etc as partitions of the zodiac.

LJS 225

Michele Zopello: Liber Litterarum Simulationis et Deziephris
Italian
Rome 1455-58
Not a Voynich analogue, but an interesting text on codes of the nomenclator variety.

LJS 49

Tashrih Mansuri
Persian, Arabic
Persia, 1411
Not a Voynich analogue, but an Islamic manuscript containing real gynaecology (see f 31r).

LJS 204

Immanuel ben Isaac Bonfils: Shesh Kanafaim
Hebrew
Italy 1509
Astronomical tables relating to the Jewish calendar.

LJS 62

Dioscorides: The Herbal
Greek
Eastern Mediterranean s15
Begins with 10 pages of herbal illustrations, several plants to a page, reminiscent of the VMS recipes section. The main text is not illustrated.

LJS 188

The Instruction of the Ephemeride
English
England 1541
Instructions for using a table of ephemerides. Astrological symbols used as ideograms.

LJS 397

Notes on Astronomy
Latin
Wittenberg c. 1550
Student notes on the new astronomy in an italic, humanistic hand.

Miscellany

Pages from Schoenberg manuscripts not yet fully scanned.

The Royal Library, Copenhagen

Gl. kgl. Saml. 79 2o

Speculum Humanae Salvationis
Latin
Germany 1468
The illuminations of the signs of the Zodiac contain diagrams of stars linked by lines, like modern diagrams of the constellations.

Gl. kgl. Saml. 3484 8o