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Re: VMs: VMS at Bodleian

Hi everyone,

At 20:56 25/11/2003 -0700, Dana Scott wrote:
Just for the record, if it hasn't already been noted.

<http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/single-items/miscellaneous/miscellaneous.html>http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/single-items/miscellaneous/miscellaneous.html 

        Photocopy of the 16th-cent. 'Voynich manuscript', (Yale University,
        MS 408), containing botanical, astronomical, astrological and
        biological illustrations, written in an unidentified cipher
        Shelfmark: MS. Facs. d. 306
        Extent: 238 leaves
        Acquisition: Given by F.R. Maddison, through R.J. Roberts, 1994.

The only likely reference I can see to Maddison is from the VMs archive, 1998 (appended below) - it seems certain that the donor was the very same Francis Romeril Maddison - the "long-time former curator of the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford". More on the museum here:-
http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/alumni/oxhistorian/04_history_scimedtech.htm

Francis Maddison was also (at one stage) the President of the SHMTS (The Society for the History of Medieval Technology and Science) http://www.shmts.org/ which is (similarly) based in Oxford. Jean Gimpel (my favourite author on the subject) was once a Vice-President, so it's almost certainly a fairly heavy-duty crowd. :-) They've even had Charles Burnett give a talk there, so I like them a lot already. :-)

Maddison wrote many articles on astrolabes and navigation, plus on countless other subjects.
According to Amazon.com:-

Learning, Language, and Invention: Essays Presented to Francis
Maddison (Astrolabica ; No. 6)
by W.D. Hackmann (Editor), A.J. Turner (Editor), Francis Romeril Maddison

        Dedicated to Maddison, long-time former curator of the Museum of
        the History of Science at Oxford, these essays revolve in various
        ways around the study of scientific artifacts, his speciality. In
        keeping with Maddison's cross-cultural approach, the papers range
        widely, covering such subjects as early Islamic decorated ceilings
        and hydrostatic devices; early European language books in the
        Bodleian Library; Paschall's attempt at a universal language;
        astrological symbolism in Chaucer; and a conducted tour of early
        instrument books in the Museum's collection. Beautiful b&w
        illustrations. Three articles appear without translation in the
        original French.
        Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Given all his interests and long-term association with Oxford, it would seem perfectly sensible for him not only to have had a photostat of the VMs, but also to have later donated it to the Bodleian. The big question is - is it simply a CopyFlo or is it one of the early copies (presumably from rotographs)? If the latter, just how early is it?

I find it quite amusing that Brett quotes Dee writing in 1594 "Remember to write to Mr. Harding [Regius Professor of Hebrew] and Mr. Abbot at Oxford abowt my Arabik boke' - here we are, 400+ years later, tracking a copy of (perhaps the same? :-) ) book in Oxford. :-)

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

* * * * * * *

From: Brett Cotton <B.Cotton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Dr. Dee
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 98 21:37:54 GMT
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Status: OR

Hi

I have been reading the posts about Dee and booksellers, on the subject of Dee's books i
excerpt from J.Roberts & A.Watson (Eds) "John Dee's Library Catalogue" 1990. London
Bibliographical Society. p.183
"DM166 Aldaraia sive Soyga : Tractatus Astrologico magicus (in Charta) Fol. Item 17 in the
1692 sale of the Duke of Lauderdale's books may have been Dee's. On March 10 1582
Dee asked the angel Uriel 'ys My boke, of Soyga, of any excellency' (British Lib., Sloane
3188 fols. 4-108 (DM78), for an illustration of which see French, Dee, pl.10); in April 1594 he
wrote in hi diary (Bodleian Lib., MS Ashmole 487) 'Remember to write to Mr. Harding [Regius
Professor of Hebrew] and Mr. Abbot at Oxford abowt my Arabik boke'. On Oct. 20 1595 a
servant 'rode toward oxford for my Arabik boke'. On Nov. 19 Dee noted 'my Arabik boke
restored by gods favor'. The next mention is among the goods of John Patois: a witness
deposes that in 1618 'there was one Arabian Booke which cost doctor dye #600 ready
money'. We are grateful to Mr. Francis Maddison for the suggestion that Aldaraia is the
Arabic article al followed by diraya, knowledge, cognizance, aquaintance"

On the vms, p.172
"New Haven, Conneticut, Yale University Lib., MS Beinecke 408. A scientific or magical text
(a treatise on the elixir of Life?), in cipher (the 'Roger Bacon' manuscript Parchment, s.xvi(?).
Dee has foliated the MS throughout: for his bold figures cf. Bodleian Lib., MS Ashmole 1790
fol.9v and 847 passim. Accompanying the book is a letter by Joannes Marcus Marci
(d.1667, rector of Prague University) which states that it was bought for 600 ducats by
Rudolph II, ... and that Rudolph believed it to contain the work of Roger Bacon. Dee, who
owned a number of Bacon manuscripts, wsa in Prague from 1584 to 1586 and was much in
contact with the Emporer. Dee records (TFR, 447) that in October 1586 he was in
possession of 630 ducats; and his son Arthur, quoted by Sir Thomas Brown (Works, Ed.
G.Keynes, vi(1931),325 (Brown to Ashmole, 1674, MS Ashmole 1788 fol. 15)) states that
while in Bohemia Dee possessed a 'booke... containing nothing butt Hieroglyphicks, which
booke his father bestowed much time upon: but I could not hear that he could make it out'.
etc."

Most of this stuff is well known to the members of the list, what I liked were the detailed
references. Something that is probably not so well known, is that Dee had been presented
with a cipher treasure map by Kelly in 1582. Read on ...

"The Heptarchia Mystica of John Dee", Studies in Hermetic Tradition. Ed. R.Turner.
Aquarian Press, 1986. Appendix D 'The Voynich Manuscript and an Ancient Treasure Map'

"...John Dee's deep interest in cipher systems is further emphasized by an event which took
place in April 1582 when Edward Kelly delivered to him a curious cipher and map delineated
in ten circles - drawn in 'silver point' ... containing words written in the same characters as
the cipher along with crude drawings of crosses and other items. After some deliberation
Dee guessed the cryptogram to be in Latin ... "

What is interesting, apart from the fact that I don't think this has been mentioned on the list
before is that the cipher text, which is reproduced, is made up of an invented set of
characters, and in the first line of the cipher text, the final character of each word is a 9
pretty much identical to the vms. 9 as in SC89. The rest of the symbols are not really
vmss-like, they bear more resemblance to enochian (suprisingly), except the letter that
corresponds to h which is similar to FSG 'L', though 'e' is similar to FSG '2'

Brett
***********************************************************************************
"How do you know but every bird that cuts the airy way
Is not an immense world of delight, closed by your senses five?"
William Blake The Marriage of Heaven and Hell 


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