The Voynich Manuscript crops up again

[essentialsaltes]

The Skeptical Inquirer also has an English translation of Klaus Schmeh's German article [with some nice full-color images] on the Voynich MS. As do I, Schmeh comes down on the side of old hoax as the most likely explanation, though other explanations are not ruled out. But I was a little surprised by the information that an (as yet unpublished) radiocarbon dating of the MS puts it at 1404-1438. I had been sort of pulling for Edward Kelly/John Dee as the hoaxers or hoax-instigators, but (barring the unlikely use of old vellum) that date makes that impossible. It also excludes Roger Bacon, the name probably most often associated with the MS, at least in the early years of its study. Plunking it down in the early 1400s makes the damn thing more mysterious still.

Comments

[aaronjv.livejournal.com]

Having read very little of the VS history (but yes, some of it, also due to the Mythos), I wonder, if that dating is correct, that it wasn't somehow related to the new Tarot decks being created?

Either way, this is great stuff.