“Alien” Manuscript Confounds Historians

Nearly 100 years after it was discovered in a villa near Rome, the Voynich manuscript, now owned by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, is once again being examined… and is giving up a surprising number of secrets.

A team at the University of Arizona’s department of physics recently dated the manuscript back to the early part of the 15th century, “making the book a century older than scholars had previously thought. ” From the University of Arizona News:

This tome makes the “DaVinci Code” look downright lackluster: Rows of text scrawled on visibly aged parchment, flowing around intricately drawn illustrations depicting plants, astronomical charts and human figures bathing in -- perhaps -- the fountain of youth. At first glance, the “Voynich manuscript” appears to be not unlike any other antique work of writing and drawing.

Even more confounding, the manuscript appears to be written in an alien language:

But a second, closer look reveals that nothing here is what it seems. Alien characters, some resembling Latin letters, others unlike anything used in any known language, are arranged into what appear to be words and sentences, except they don't resemble anything written -- or read -- by human beings.

The Huffington Post looks at the Voynich manuscript here. The University of Arizona News item is here. The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library talks about the book here.

Rare Books Roadshow

Would you love to get your mitts on a book late rocker Jim Morrison created with his own doomed hands? What about a handwritten manuscript fragment by Marcel Proust? Or maybe you’re sitting on a book that you just know is valuable and, short of chasing down the Antiques Roadshow, you don’t know what to do with it?

If any of these questions makes your heart pitter patter, start making plans to get to the 42nd annual California International Antiquarian Book Fair which gets underway later this month at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco. With over 240 rare booksellers from around the world converging on the Bay area, this is the largest antiquarian book fair in the United States.

Dealers will be offering rare and antiquarian books, manuscripts and other related materials priced from just a couple of bucks to hundreds of thousands. Collectors will find early printed books and manuscripts, illustrated books, fine bindings, early American and European literature, modern first editions, books for children, maps, autographs, ephemera and antiquarian books on every imaginable subject.

Those with questions about their own treasures can bring their rare books to the fair on Discovery Day, February 15th between 1:30 and 3 pm for a free appraisal. Experts will offer informal appraisals for up to three books. As part of the Discovery Day activities two related sessions are available: “Book Collecting 101” and “What is This Book Worth” should both offer a wealth of information for the new collector.

The California International Antiquarian Book Fair runs from February 13th until the 15th. You can visit the event Web site for full information.