Re: VMs: "De Aequilibriatis Mundi"

[Pamela Richards <spirlhelix@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, All  

For those who have not had the time to look up this
website's reference, this is the article that is
posted as describing the history of their "mysterious
document"

http://www.apocprod.com/Pages/de_aequilibritatis_mundi/sb428_cipher_manuscript.htm

The link says:

<<Read the Card Catalogue Entry about the SB428 Cipher
Manuscript, detailing the history of the mysterious
document.>>

And leads here:

http://www.apocprod.com/Pages/de_aequilibritatis_mundi/ms_sb428_card_catalogue.htm

So, not only are they using the EVA script, they also
lifted a description (with very few noticable
changes--insertion of Dr. Henry Jones being the only
one I can see, and perhaps the exclusion of some
material) of the VMs to explain the history of their
spurious (and fictional, I'm sure the perpatrators
would readily admit) document.  I find that
objectionable, as I would prefer to see facts
describing factual objects and fictions describing
fictional ones, although perhaps I am alone in this.

Warmly,

Pam 

The article on the history of their "Mystery Document"
says:

<<SPECIAL COLLECTIONS CATALOGUE ENTRY 428

MS SB 428 Central Europe [?], s. XV^ex-XVI [?]

Cipher Manuscript Origin Unknown

Scientific or magical text in an unidentified
language, in cipher,

apparently based on Roman minuscule characters; the
text is believed by

some scholars to be the work of Roger Bacon since the
themes of the

illustrations seem to represent topics known to have
interested Bacon

A history of the numerous attempts to decipher the
manuscript can be

found in a volume edited by Dr. Henry Jones Jr.,

Mysterious Manuscripts of Pseudoscience and Prehistory

(University of Chicago, 1956). Although several

scholars have claimed decipherments of the manuscript,
for the most

part the text remains an unsolved puzzle. H. S.
Armitage has, however,

suggested a decipherment that establishes readings for
the star names

and plant labels; see his "De Aequilibritatis Mundi
and the 'Roger Bacon'

Manuscript Once More," Speculum 49 (1974) pp. 546-48;
"The Solution of

the SB428 Cipher," Gazette 49 (1975) pp. 347-55; "The

'John Dee', 'Roger Bacon' Cipher Manuscript:
Deciphered Maps of Stars,"

Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 39
(1976) pp. 139-50.

Parchment. ff. 102 (contemporary foliation, Arabic
numerals; not

every leaf foliated) + i (paper), including 5
double-folio, 3 triple-

folio, 1 quadruple-folio and 1 sextuple-folio folding
leaves. 225 x 160

mm.

Collation is difficult due to the number of fold-out
leaves that

are not always foliated consistently. I-VII^8 (f. 12
missing), VIII^4

(leaves foliated 59 through 64 missing from center of
quire), IX^2

(double and triple fold-out leaves), X^2 (1 triple
fold-out), XI^2 (1

quadruple fold-out), XII^2 (f. 74 missing, followed by
stubs of

conjugate leaves), XIII^10, XIV^1 (sextuple fold-out),
XV^4 (1 triple

and 1 double fold-out), XVI^4 (1 double fold-out; ff.
91, 92, 97, 98

missing, 2 stubs between 94 and 95), XVII^4 (2 double
fold-outs),

XVIII^12 (ff. 109-110, central bifolium, missing).
Quire signatures in

lower right corner, verso, and sometimes on recto.

Almost every page contains cryptical and scientific
drawings, many

full-page, of a provincial but lively character, in
ink with washes in

various shades of green, brown, yellow, blue and red.
Based on the

subject matter of the drawings, the contents of the
manuscript falls

into six sections: Part I. ff. 1r-66v Little
continuous text. Part

III. ff. 75r-84v These drawings are the most enigmatic
in the

manuscript and it has been suggested that they
symbolically represent

the process of temporal distortion and manipulation of
space-time.

(cf. W. Newbold and R. Kent, The Cipher of Roger Bacon

[Philadelphia, 1928] p. 46). Part IV. ff. 85r-86v This
sextuple-

folio folding leaf contains an elaborate array of nine
medallions,

filled with stars and cell-like shapes, with fibrous
structures linking

the circles. Some medallions with petal-like
arrangements of rays

filled with stars, some with structures resembling
bundles of pipes.

Part V. ff. 87r-102v Pharmaceutical section containing
drawings of

over 100 different species of medicinal herbs and
roots, all with

identifying inscriptions. On almost every page
drawings of

pharmaceutical jars, resembling vases, in red, green
and yellow, or

blue and green. Accompanied by some continuous text.
Part VI. ff. 103r-

117v Continuous text, with stars in inner margin on
recto and outer

margins of verso. Folio 117v includes a 3-line
presumed "key" opening

with a reference to Roger Bacon in anagram and cipher.

Binding: s. xviii-xix. Vellum case. Remains of early
paper

pastedowns.

Written in Central Europe [?] at the end of the 15th
or during the 16th

[?] century; the origin and date of the manuscript are
still being

debated as vigorously as its puzzling drawings and
undeciphered text.

The identification of several of the plants as New
World specimens

brought back to Europe by Columbus indicates that the
manuscript could

not have been written before 1493. The codex belonged
to Emperor

Rudolph II of Germany (Holy Roman Emperor, 1576-1612),
who purchased it

for 600 gold ducats and believed that it was the work
of Roger Bacon;

see the autograph letter of Johannes Marcus Marci (d.
1667, rector of

Prague University) transcribed under item A below. It
is very likely

that Emperor Rudolph acquired the manuscript from the
English

astrologer John Dee (1527-1608) whose foliation
remains in the upper

right corner of each leaf (we thank A. G. Watson for
confirming this

identification through a comparison of the Arabic
numerals in the

Beinecke manuscript with those of John Dee in Oxford,
Bodleian Library

Ashmole 1790, f. 9v, and Ashmole 487). See also A. G.
Watson and R. J.

Roberts, eds., John Dee's Library Catalogue (London,
The

Bibliographical Society, forthcoming). Dee apparently
owned the

manuscript along with a number of other Roger Bacon
manuscripts; he was

in Prague 1582-86 and was in contact with Emperor
Rudolph during this

period. In addition, Dee stated that he had 630 ducats
in October 1586,

and his son Arthur (cited by Sir T. Browne, Works, G.
Keynes, ed.

[1931] v. 6, p. 325) noted that Dee, while in Bohemia,
owned "a

booke...containing nothing butt Hieroglyphicks, which
booke his father

bestowed much time upon: but I could not heare that
hee could make it

out." Emperor Rudolph seems to have given the
manuscript to Jacobus

Horcicky de Tepenecz (d. 1622); inscription on f. 1r
"Jacobi de

Tepenecz" (erased but visible under ultra-violet
light). Johannes

Marcus Marci of Cronland presented the book to
Athanasius Kircher, S.

J. (1601-80) in 1666. Acquired by Wilfred M. Voynich
in 1912 from the

Jesuit College at Frascati near Rome. Given to the
Miskatonic University

Library in 1947 by Drs. Henry Jones Jr. and John
Armitage. Designated

MS SB428 and entered into Special Collections section
of Miskatonic

University Library.

Included with MS 408 is the following supplementary
material in folders

or boxes labelled A - N.

A: Autograph letter of Johannes Marcus Marci of
Cronland in which he

presents the manuscript to Athanasius Kircher in Rome,
in the belief

that Kircher would be able to decipher it. "Reuerende
et Eximie Domine

in Christo Pater. Librum hunc ab amico singulari mihi
testamento

relictum, mox eundem tibi amicissime Athanisi ubi
primum possidere

coepi, animo destinaui: siquidem persuasum habui a
nullo nisi abs te

legi posse. Petijt aliquando per litteras ejusdem
libri tum possessor

judicium tuum parte aliqua a se descripta et tibi
transmissa, ex qua

reliqua a te legi posse persuasum habuit; uerum librum
ipsum

transmittere tum recusabat in quo discifrando posuit
indefessum

laborem, uti manifestum ex conatibus ejusdem hic una
tibi transmissis

neque prius huius spei quam uitae suae finem fecit.
Verum labor hic

frustraneus fuit, siquidem non nisi suo Kirchero
obediunt eiusmodi

sphinges. Accipe ergo modo quod pridem tibi debebatur
hoc qualecunque

mei erga te affectus indicium; huiusque seras, si quae
sunt, consueta

tibi felicitate perrumpe. retulit mihi D. Doctor
Raphael Ferdinandi

tertij Regis tum Boemiae in lingua boemica instructor
dictum librum

fuisse Rudolphi Imperatoris, pro quo ipse latori qui
librum attulisset

600 ducatos praesentarit, authorem uero ipsum putabat
esse Rogerium

Bacconem Anglum. ego judicium meum hic suspendo. tu
uero quid nobis hic

sentiendum defini, cujus fauori et gratiae me totum
commendo maneoque.

Reuerentiae Vestrae. Ad Obsequia Joannes Marcus Marci
a Cronland.

Pragae 19. Augusti AD 1666 [or 1665?].

B: Correspondence between H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton
Smith and

Prof. W. R. Newbold concerning Newbold's supposed
decipherment

of the manuscript (1919-26). Correspondence between
Anne M. Nills,

executrix of the estate of Ethel Armitage, and the
Rev. Theodore C.

Peterson, dated 1935-61, concerning the provenance,
dating and

decipherment of the manuscript.

C: Cardboard tube containing articles from
international newspapers and

magazines; among them The New York Times, The
Washington Post, Der

Zeitgeist, and others, concerning the announced sale
by H. P. Kraus of

the cipher manuscript.

D: Scrapbook of newspaper clippings (1912-26)
concerning the cipher

manuscript, compiled by Dr. John Armitage.

E: Miscellaneous handwritten notes of H.P. Lovecraft.

F: Miscellaneous material, including handwritten notes
by A. Nills

about the cipher, and her correspondence about the
sale of the

manuscript.

G: Five notebooks handwritten by August Derleth
containing notes on the

identification of the plants, medicinal herbs and
roots; miscellaneous

notes by A. Nills listing some characters or
combinations of characters

as they appear in the manuscript.

H: Box of negative and positive photostats.

I - L: Lectures, pamphlets, reviews and articles
concerning the

manuscript. Includes (in K) the transcript of a
seminar held in

Washington D. C. on November 1976 entitled "New
Research on the SB428

Manuscript."

M: Miscellaneous correspondence between R. Brumbaugh
and J. M. Saul

(Paris) and J. Arnold (Oak Grove, Mo.). Handwritten
transcription of

ff. 89v-116r by R. Brumbaugh.

N: Temporary folder of negative photostats.>>
--- Knox Mix <knoxmix@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi Pamela,
> 
> Pamela Richards wrote:
> > Hello, KM
> > 
> > Is EVA script
> > copyrighted?
> 
> 
> I just had a look at a few fonts on my computer and
> they all were under 
> copyright. It might be difficult to determine the
> permissions of use 
> and, for those commonly used for general
> communication, I would not 
> bother. It is also hard to remember what
> restrictions, if any, goes with 
> a font months after it is downloaded. I tried a
> quick search to see what 
> files might have come with EVA Hand and did not find
> the them. Until I 
> do I will believe it was created for a special
> purpose and should not be 
> used for much else, especially on a page intended
> for the general public 
> with no credit. Thinking about creating a font (that
> is as far as I got 
> with it) gives some small idea of the difficulty and
> art involved.
> 
> 
>  >
>  > Nonsense?  A little worse than that, I think.
> 
> I only glanced at the page; not long enough to
> properly characterize it. 
> Might have a good story. Might be really bad. I do
> not know.
> 
> Regards, ....... Knox
> 
>
______________________________________________________________________
> To unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx
> with a body saying:
> unsubscribe vms-list
> 


=====
"I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing, than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance."


		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more.
http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250
______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx with a body saying:
unsubscribe vms-list