Re: VMs: Introduction, speculations, & questions

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Barbara,

> It is the writing system of the Voynich MSS that fascinates me; how does
> it work, what is its logic?

It is like trying to solve a crossword where we can neither make sense of 
the clues, nor tell black squares from white. And we can't even be sure how 
long individual words really are. :-(

Finding "where the black squares" is what I'm trying to do - just what is 
its logic?

I have my own theory (which is that it's a pre-1500 composite system of 
shorthand and cipher tricks, with one stage a "pair cipher" which encodes 
many tokens as pairs of letters in a fake cipherbet) - but opinions differ, 
so don't take my word for it, whatever you do. :-)

> My questions as fairly simple. Is there a FAQ out there that explains
> the Jargon used on this list?

*sigh* It is all a bit off-putting, isn't it? :-(

Thinking about it, that's actually a really good use of a WikiWiki (don't 
ask) - I've been waiting for a good reason to set that up, so I'll go away 
and do that now. Will post back a little later on! :-)

> And has anyone published a reasonably
> affordable facsimile of the Voynich MSS and where do I get my sweaty
> hands on it?

You can order a CopyFlo direct from the Beinecke - not too expensive, but 
it does take a reasonable while to arrive. Not very good quality, either. :-(

However, if you can bear the (hopefully rather shorter) wait, it should be 
possible to get a copy of Ken W's 300MB PDF on a CD to you in the next few 
days. I guess that would probably be your best option. :-)

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling..... 


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