Voynich Manuscript Bibliography

Jim Reeds

This page is under construction. If you have additions or corrections to suggest, please send me email. Many older items shamelessly taken from Brumbaugh, D'Imperio, Galland, and Shulmans' bibliographies; more recent ones from traffic on the voynich@rand.org mailing list and from personal communications from (among many others) Rene Zandbergen, Gabriel Landini, Denis Mardle, Dennis Stallings, and especially from Brian Smith.

I include non-fiction works that directly refer to the Voynich MS or to the life of W. M. Voynich, but exclude general works such as biographies of John Dee, Roger Bacon, etc, and surveys of such topics as Renaissance Hermeticism, paleography, etc.

Since this is largely a compilation of others' bibliographies I have not seen all the items listed, and cannot vouch for their accuracy. (The comment ``not seen'' means ``not seen by me.'')

This bibliography is broken into two sections:

Manuscripts

Including samizdat items. Items with WFF numbers are in the William F. Friedman collection of the George Marshall Library in Lexington, Virginia.
  1. ``The Voynich ``Roger Bacon'' Cipher Manuscript.'' Beinecke Rare Book Library, Yale University: MS 408. Supplementary material in folders and boxes labelled A - N.

  2. Positive photocopies of ff. 1-56 of Voynich MS. British Library MS Facs 461.

  3. Positive photocopies of miscellaneous folios of Voynich MS, misc. VMS correspondence of R. Steele, 1921, and misc. VMS articles. (Contains: 68r1/68r2, 65v/66r, 78v/79r, 107v/108r, 108v/111r, 111v/112r, 112v/113r, 1r, and 116v. Correspondence includes letters to Steele from W. Voynich, W. Newbold, and from A. W. Pollard. Articles include: clipping from Morning Post newpaper, 26.9.21, ``Astrological Anagrams: the Diary of Roger Bacon,'' clipping from Daily Chronicle newspaper, n.d., ``Key to Cypher in historic MS. / America's new light on Roger Bacon / 600 years' mystery,'' pencilled draft of article by Steele, photostat of typed lecture notes by Newbold (?), copy of J. Manly's Harper's article, copy of Louis Cons 4 Feb 1922 article.) British Library MS Facs 439.

  4. Brumbaugh, Robert S. Letter to Louis Kruh, 17 October 1978. In Kruh collection.

  5. Brumbaugh, Robert S. ``Voynich Newsletter.'' Various issues: February 1978, 6 page typescript. November 1978, 7 page typescript. January 1980, 7 page typescript. [In Kruh collection.]

  6. Carter, Albert H. ``Some Impressions of the Voynich Manuscript.'' Unpublished notes, 10 September 1946. WFF 1614.

  7. Carton, Raoul. ``The Cipher of Roger Bacon.'' 55 page typescript, translated from French by E. L. Voynich. In N.Y. Academy of Medicine Library. 1930. [Not seen.]

  8. Currier, Prescott. ``Voynich MS Transcription Alphabet; Plans for Computer Studies; Transcribed text of herbal A and B Material; Notes and Observations.'' Unpublished communications to John H. Tiltman and M. D'Imperio. Darimascotta, Maine. [Not seen.]

  9. D'Imperio, M. E. ``Structure of Voynich Text Groups: A Statistical Model.'' 2 page typescript, 1978.

  10. D'Imperio, M. E. ``An Application of Cluster Analysis and Multiple Scaling to the Question of `Hands' and `Languages' in the Voynich Manuscript.'' 28 January 1992. [Confirms Currier's findings. Not seen; in Gillogly collection. From abstract: ``This paper is an extensively revised and updated version of an earlier paper in an in-house technical journal, dated 20 June 1978. It includes corrected and expanded data sets.'']

  11. D'Imperio, M. E. ``Some Ideas on the Construction of the Voynich Script.'' 3 page typescript, January 1992.

  12. D'Imperio, M. E. ``Odd Repetitions or Near Repetitions in the Text.'' January 1992.

  13. Firth, Robert. ``Notes on the Voynich Manuscript.'' Numbered series of essays: 1-24, 1991-1995.

  14. Friedman, William F. Two ``First Study Group'' transcription alphabet sheets. WFF 1609.1.

  15. Friedman, William F. ``First Study Group'' transcription alphabet sheet. WFF 1609.2.

  16. Friedman, William F., Mark Rhoads, et al. Minutes of the ``Voynich Manuscript Research Group,'' 1944-45. National Cryptologic Museum, VF 10-8.

  17. Friedman, William F., et al. Printout of transcription, onto 131 printout sheets, ca. 1944-46. WFF 1609.

  18. Friedman, William F., et al. Printout of partial transcription, ca. 1944-46 Unnumbered item in Friedman Collection.

  19. Friedman, William F., et al. Printout of partial transcription, ca. 1944-46. Unnumbered item in NSA Historical Records Collection.

  20. Friedman, William F., et al. Printout of partial transcription, Second Study Group, ca. 1963. WFF 1609.3 [Close to illegible.]

  21. Friedman, William F., et al. Correspondence with RCA Corp. about activities of ``Second Study Group,'' 1963. WFF 1609.4.

  22. Guy, Jacques B. M. ``The distribution of letters c and o in the Voynich Manuscript: Evidence for a real language?'' April 1994.

  23. Krischer, Jeffrey P. The Voynich Manuscript Harvard University term paper, 1969. [Once, but no longer, listed in Gordon McKay Library catalogue.]

  24. Panofsky, Erwin. ``Answers to Questions for Prof. E. Panofsky.'' Letter to William F. Friedman, March 19, 1954. Correspondence between Friedman, Panofsky, and J. v. Neumann. Letters from Richard Salomon to Erwin Panofsky and Gertrud Bing. WFF 1614.

  25. Petersen, Theodore C. ``Notes to Mr. Tiltman's [1951] Observations on the Voynich Cipher MS.'' Unpublished. 23 April 1953.

  26. Petersen, Theodore C. Hand Transcript and Concordance of the Voynich Manuscript and Other Working Papers. In the Friedman Collection, George Marshall Library, Lexington, Virginia.

  27. Puckett, Frances M. Partial transcription of ff.111v-114r, in WFF 1613.

  28. Strong, Leonell C. Collection of letters, notebook entries, and worksheets. In a private collection.

  29. Tiltman, John. ``Interim Report on the Voynich MS.'' Personal communication to William F. Friedman, 5 May 1951. 2 page typescript. In NSA Historical Records Collection. Copy in WFF 1615.13.

  30. Tiltman, John. Partial transcription, 1951. In NSA Historical Records Collection.

  31. Tiltman, John. Biography of T. C. Petersen. WFF 1615.

  32. Tiltman, John. ``The Voynich MS'' Script of an address presented at the Baltimore Bibliophiles. 4 March 1951. [Not seen; date looks wrong. Cited by D'Imperio. Almost certainly the 1967 Baltimore Bibliophiles address.]

  33. Voynich, Wilfrid; Voynich, Ethel, and Nill, A. M. Notes concerning the history of the cipher manuscript. Voynich Archives, Library of the Grollier Club of New York, 1917-196?. [Not seen, unless identical with Beinecke MS 408 B.]

Printed Books and Articles

  1. Altick, Richard D. The Scholar Adventurers. New York: The Free Press, 1966. [First ed. in 1950. Has discussion of VMS and Manly's refutation on pp.200-206.]

  2. ``Antique Books Worth $500,000.'' Chicago Sunday Tribune. 10 Oct 1915, sec II, p 1, col 5. [Exhibit of WMV's books at the Art Institute of Chicago. A few paragraphs describe the VMS. ``The manuscript is from the hand of Roger Bacon...was bought by Emperor Rudolf...and at the end of the sixteenth century passed into the hands of King Ferdinand of Bohemia.'' Not seen.]

  3. ``Art Works Worth $1,500,000 Arrive to Escape War.'' Chicago Daily Tribune. 9 Oct 1915, p 1, Col 2. [Exhibit of WMV's books at the Art Institute of Chicago which includes ``a work by Roger Bacon in cipher to which the key has never been discovered.'' Not seen.]

  4. Ashbrook, Joseph. ``Roger Bacon and the Voynich Manuscript'' Sky and Telescope, April, 1966, pp.218-219. [Debunks Newbold.]

  5. Barlow, Michael. ``The Voynich Manuscript -- By Voynich?'' Cryptologia 10(October 1986) pp.210-216.

  6. Michael Barlow. Review of Levitov. Cryptologia 12(1988).

  7. Barthelemy, Pierre. ``L'indéchiffrable manuscrit Voynich résiste toujours au décryptage'' Le Monde. 20 December 2000. [Two page summary of position, similar to Grossman's article in flavor, but shorter. Quotes Guy and Reeds.]

  8. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library: a guide to its collections. New Haven: Yale University Library, 1994. [Not seen. Short description and picture of 39v.]

  9. Bennett, William Ralph Scientific and Engineering Problem Solving with the Computer Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1976. [Contains a chapter on VMS.]

  10. Bird, J. Malcom. ``The Roger Bacon Manuscript: Investigation into its History, and the Efforts to Decipher it.'' Scientific American Monthly 3(June 1921): 492-96.

  11. Blunt, Wilfrid and Sandra Raphael. The Illustrated Herbal, London: Thames and Hudson, in association with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1979. [Discussion of VMS, with several good illustrations of VMS leaves.]

  12. Booklist. Review of Brumbaugh's Most Mysterious Manuscript. 74 (1 July 1978) p 1647. [Single paragraph summary. Not seen.]

  13. Boston Transcript. Review of Newbold's Cipher of Roger Bacon. 30 June 1928, p 2. [Not seen, item taken from index.]

  14. Brooke, Tucker. ``Doctor mirabilis.'' Yale Review 19 (1929) p.207-8. [Review of Newbold. Not seen.]

  15. Brumbaugh, Robert S. The World's Most Mysterious Manuscript. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1977. [Survey of scholarship; advances own theory of 16th century hoax. Many wretched illustrations.]

  16. Brumbaugh, R. S. ``Botany and the Voynich `Roger Bacon' Manuscript Once More.'' Speculum 49(1974), 546-48.

  17. Brumbaugh, R. S. ``The Solution of the Voynich `Roger Bacon' Cipher.'' Yale Library Gazette 49(1975): 347-55.

  18. Brumbaugh, R. S. ``The Voynich `Roger Bacon' Cipher Manuscript: Deciphered Maps of Stars.'' Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 39(1976): 139-50.

  19. Bull. Art Inst. Chicago IX (1915) p.100. [Not seen.]

  20. Carton, Raoul. ``Le Chiffre de Roger Bacon.'' Révue d'Histoire de la Philosophie 3 (1929): pp.31-66, 165-79. [Not seen.]

  21. Casanova, Antoine, Méthodes d'analyse du langage crypte: une contribution a l'étude du manuscrit de Voynich: These pour obtenir le grade de Docteur de l'Universite Paris 8.  March 19, 1999.  Contient des images noirs-et-blancs de f77v, f33v, f79v, f69r, f34r, f105v, et f105r.  Discute les idees des etudiant du Manuscrit, des membres actuels du e-mail liste Voynich y inclus.

  22. Child, James R. ``The Voynich Manuscript Revisited.'' NSA Technical journal 21 (1976): pp.1-4. [Norse.]

  23. Choice. Review of Brumbaugh's Most Mysterious Manuscript. 15 (October 1978): p.1080. [Single paragraph summary. Not seen.]

  24. Cons, Louis. ``Un manuscrit mystérieux: Un traité scientifique du treizième siècle, attribué a Roger Bacon.'' L'Illustration 159 (Number 4118, 4 Feb 1922) p. 112. [Copy in BL Facs 439.]

  25. Cons, Louis. ``Newbold's Trail.'' [Review of Newbold.] Saturday Review of Literature 5 (Oct. 27, 1928), p.292. [Not seen.]

  26. ``Cipher Debunked but not Decoded.'' New York Times, Tuesday, 6 May 1975, sec 2, p.37, cols. 7-8.

  27. Corrales, Scot. ``The Books of the Damned: Fact or Fiction?'' FATE July, 2000. [Not seen. Rehash selection from Brumbaugh and D'Imperio. Good color image of f.78r; mentions Landini and Zandbergen.]

  28. Daiger, Michael. ``The world's most unusual manuscript.'' Occult, Jan. 1976. [Not seen.]

  29. D'Imperio, M. E. ``The Voynich Manuscript: A Scholarly Mystery.'' Manuscripts. 29,2 (Spring 1977), pp.85-93. 29,3 (Summer 1977), pp.161-173. 30,1 (Winter 1978), pp.34-48. [Not seen. Three part article. Parts about physical history of the manuscript, about attempts at decipherment, and about Brumbaugh's, Currier's, and Child's work, respectively.]

  30. D'Imperio, M. E. ``An Application of Cluster Analysis and Multidimensional Scaling to the Question of ``Hands'' and ``Languages'' in the Voynich Manuscript.'' National Security Agency Technical Journal. 23, 3 (Summer 1978), pp. 59-75. [Unclassified article. Confirms Currier's findings.]

  31. D'Imperio, M. E. ``An Application of PTAH to the Voynich Manuscript.'' National Security Agency Technical Journal. 24, 2 (Spring 1979), pp. 65-91. [Only seen in abridged ``redacted'' form, with occasional secret passages obliterated. Hidden Markov models fitted to Voynich text. Author's conclusions: ``(1) The plain text directly underlying the Voynich text is probably not a natural language written in an alphabet, like English or Latin. (2) The Voynich text probably does not involve any form of simple substitution or alphabetic plain text like English or Latin. (3) The Voynich text does not directly represent a variably spelled or `impressionistic' approximation of a natural language like English or Latin, as claimed by Brumbaugh. (4) The words of the Voynich text do not appear to act like code groups in a known code which includes groups for grammatical endings.'']

  32. D'Imperio, M. E. The Voynich Manuscript--An Elegant Enigma. National Security Agency, 1978. Aegean Park Press, 1978?

  33. D'Imperio, M. E., editor. New Research on the Voynich Manuscript: Proceedings of a Seminar Washington, D.C.: Privately printed pamphlet, 30 November 1976.
    Partial contents:

  34. Drucker, Johanna. The Alphabetic Labyrinth New York: Thames and Hudson, 1995.

  35. Ephron, H. (Pseud. ``DENDAI'') ``A burning question in re the Voynich MS (slightly revised).'' The Cryptogram. 43(1977). March-April, pp.22,46-48; May-June,pp.49,51-52,72. [Discussion; suggests G. Bruno is author.]

  36. Feely, Joseph M. Roger Bacon's Cipher: The Right Key Found Rochester, NY., 1943. [Not seen.]

  37. Friedman, W. F., and E. S. Friedman. ``Acrostics, Anagrams, and Chaucer.'' Philological Quarterly 38(1959), pp.1-20.

  38. Friedman, Elizebeth S. `` `The Most Mysterious Manuscript' Still an Enigma.'' The Washington Post, 5 August 1962, sec. E, pp. 1,5.

  39. Garland, Herbert. ``The Mystery of the Roger Bacon Cipher MS.'' Bookman's Journal and Print Collector (London) 5, (October 1921), pp.11-16. [Not seen.]

  40. Garland, Herbert. ``Notes on the Firm of W. M. Voynich.'' Library World. 34 (April 1932) pp.225-8. [Mostly biography of Voynich but includes paragraph on VMS and picture of lower half of 78v. Not seen.]

  41. Garland, Herbert. ``A Literary Puzzle Solved?'' Illustrated London News 160, (20 May 1922), pp.740-742. [Not seen.]

  42. Gilson, Étienne. (Review of Newbold's The Cipher of Roger Bacon.) Révue critique d'histoire et de littérature (Paris) 62 (August 1928) pp.378-383. [Not seen.]

  43. Grossman, Lev. ``When words fail: The struggle to decipher the world's most difficult book.'' Lingua Franca 9, No. 3 (April, 1999), pp. 9-15. [Current status of problem, reports interviews with Landini, Reeds and Zandbergen. Illustrations of VMS pages and portraits of Voynich, Newbold, and Brumbaugh.]

  44. Guy, J. B. M. ``Voynich Revisited.'' Letter to the editor. Cryptologia, 15(1991), pp.161-166. [Rebuts Barlow's speculation that Voynich faked it.]

  45. Guy, J. B. M. Statistical Properties of Two Folios of the Voynich Manuscript. Cryptologia, 15(1991), pp.207-218. [Applies Sukhotin's vowel-finding algorithm to VMS text.]

  46. Guzman, Gregory S. Review of Brumbaugh's ``Most Mysterious Manuscript.'' Historian 42 (November 1979) p 120-1. [Uncritical summary. Not seen.]

  47. Harnisch, Larry (Pseud. ``AR-MYR''), ``The Voynich Manuscript.'' The Cryptogram. 43(1976) May-June,pp.45,62-63; July-August, pp.69,74-77.

  48. James, Peter J. and Nick Thorpe. Ancient Inventions. New York : Ballantine Books, 1994. [Not seen. Said to have a VMS illustration near p.511.]

  49. Jay, Mike. ``Maze of madness.'' Fortean Times (UK) Jan., 2000 (= issue 130). [Not seen. A few illustrations, fair summary of problem. Publisher's web page blurb: ``MIKE JAY investigates the Voynich Manuscript. An nigmatic fraud or the world's most enigmatic code?'']

  50. The Hartford Courant newspaper of Hartford, Connecticut. ``The Mystery of Manuscript 408.'' October 12, 1999. [Includes color images of several folios. Quotes Bennett and Reeds.]

  51. Johnson, Charles. Review of Newbold's ``Cipher of Roger Bacon.'' English Historical Review 44 (Oct 1929) pp. 677-8. [Critical of Newbold, guesses 15c Italian source for VMS. Not seen.]

  52. Kahn, David. ``The Secret Book.'' Newsday. 26 June 1962.

  53. Kahn, David. The Codebreakers. New York: Macmillan, 1967. [Discussion on pp.863-872, 1120-1121.]

  54. Kent, Roland G. ``Deciphers Roger Bacon Manuscripts.'' Pennsylvania Gazette. 19 (May 27, 1921) pp.851-853. [``Official'' summary of Newbold's work from his credulous colleague. Includes photo of f67r1. Not seen.]

  55. Knox, Sanka. ``700-Year-Old Book For Sale; Contents, In Code, Still Mystery.'' New York Times, 18 July 1962, p 27, col 2. [Kraus auction. Includes picture of 85/86r4. Not seen.]

  56. Kraus, H. P. A rare book saga -- The autobiography of H. P. Kraus. New York: Putnam's, 1978.

  57. Kraus, H. P. Catalogue 100. Thirty-five manuscripts: including the St. Blasien psalter, the Llangattock hours, the Gotha missal, the Roger Bacon (Voynich) cipher ms. New York: H.P. Kraus, 1962. [Beautiful reproductions of several leaves of VMS.]

  58. Kruml, Milan. ``Voynicuv rukopis.'' Mlady svet. 1995, no. 35, 24 August 1995. Prague. [Seen in electronic form: http://cech.cesnet.cz/htbin/encode/MS/texts/MS953500.html. Odd survey in a childrens' magazine.]

  59. Landini, G., and R. Zandbergen. ``A Well-kept Secret of Medieval Science: the Voynich Manuscript.'' Aesculapius. No. 18, July 1998, pp. 77-82. [Survey of the problem; discussion of statistics of the EVA transcription, Zipf's law, etc.]

  60. Levitov, Leo. Solution of the Voynich Manuscript: A Liturgical Manual for the Endura Rite of the Cathari Heresy, the Cult of Isis. Laguna Hills, California: Aegean Park Press, 1987.

  61. Liebert, Herman W. ``The Beinecke Library Accessions 1969.'' Yale Library Gazette, 44 (April 1970). [Not seen. Describes Kraus's gift of VMS on pp.192-3.]

  62. ``Lovecraft and the Voynich Manuscript.'' INFO Journal, #48 [ca. 1984]. [The International Fortean Organization's INFO Journal. Not seen.]

  63. Dr. R. Loeser. ``Roger Bacons Chiffremanuskript.'' Die Umschau. 26 (1922), pp.115-117.

  64. Manly, John M. [?]. ``Roger Bacon's Cypher manuscript.'' American[?] Review of Reviews 64 (July 1921) pp.105-6. [Not seen.]

  65. Manly, John M.. ``The Most Mysterous Manuscript in the World.'' Harper's Monthly Magazine 143(July?, 1921): 186-97. [Not seen. Title uncertain.]

  66. Manly, John M. ``Roger Bacon and the Voynich Manuscript.'' Speculum 6 (July 1931): 345-91. [Refutes Newbold.]

  67. Massie, Mitford C. The Roger Bacon or R. R. Dee Chess-Code. Press of Fremont Payne, Inc, 1934. [Not seen. Not about the VMS, according to Brian Smith.]

  68. McKaig, Betty. ``The Voynich Manuscript--Cipher of the Secret Book.'' (Interview with Leonell Strong). North County Independent, Oct. 7, 1970. Reprinted courtesy Independent Newspapers, Inc., San Diego, California. [Not seen.]

  69. McKenna, Terence K. The Archaic Revival: speculations on psychedelic mushrooms, the Amazon, virtual reality, UFOs, evolution, Shamanism, the rebirth of the goddess, and the end of history. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991. [Not seen.]

  70. McKenna, Terence K. ``Has the World's Most Mysterious Manuscript Been Read at Last?'' Gnosis Magazine, 7 (Summer 1988) pp.48-51. [Mildly favorable review of Levitov.]

  71. McKeon, Richard. ``Roger Bacon.'' [Review of Newbold.] The Nation 127 (August 29, 1928) pp.205-6. [Review of Newbold.]

  72. Moses, Montrose J. ``A Cinderella on Parchment: The Romance of the New 600 Year-Old Bacon Manuscript.'' Hearst's International 1921, pp.16-17, 75. [Not seen.]

  73. Newbold, William Romaine. The Cipher of Roger Bacon, edited with foreword and notes by Roland Grubb Kent. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press; London, H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1928.

  74. Newbold, William R. ``The Cipher of Roger Bacon.'' Proceedings of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Philadelphia, pp 431-74. Philadephia, 1921. Read April 20, 1921.

  75. New York Times. 26 Mar 1921, p 6, col 1. 27 Mar 1921, sec II, p 1, col 1. 21 Apr 1921, p 3, col 1. 22 Apr 1921, p 13, col 1. [Not seen. All on Newbold's findings.]

  76. New York Times. ``Roger Bacon's Formula Yields Copper Salts, Proving Newbold Secret Cipher Translation.'' 2 Dec 1926, p 5, col 4 with follow-up articles 3 Dec, p 22, col 4 and12 Dec, sec XX, p 12, col 6. [Not seen. More Newboldism.]

  77. New York Times. ``Will Orders Sale of Bacon Cipher.'' 15 Apr 1930, p 40, col 1. [Not seen. About Voynich's will.]

  78. New York Times. ``Cipher Debunked But Not Decoded.'' 6 May 1975, p 41, col 7. [About Brumbaugh's Yale Library Gazette decipherment and general background. Includes picture of 33v. Not seen.]

  79. Newsom, Eugene. A Split in the Mystery Curtain. Pampflet. 20 pages. 1995. [Tommaso Campanella wrote it.]

  80. O'Neill, Hugh. ``Botanical Remarks on the Voynich MS.'' Speculum 19 (1944): 126.

  81. OPollak, Michael. ``Can't Read It? You Can Look at the Pictures.'' New York Times. 16 Sept. 1999, p. G11.

  82. Poundstone, William. Labyrinths of Reason. New York: Doubleday, 1988.

  83. Pratt, Fletcher. Secret and Urgent. New York: Bobbs Merrill, 1939. [Discussion of VMS on pp.30-38.]

  84. Publishers' Weekly. ``Kraus Marks Anniversary With Catalog of Treasures.'' 181 (25 June 1962) pp. 39-40. [Kraus auction with a single paragraph about VMS. Not seen.]

  85. Jim Reeds. ``William F. Friedman's Transcription of the Voynich Manuscript.'' Cryptologia 19 (1995) pp.1-23.

  86. Review of ``The Cipher of Roger Bacon (Newbold)'' Quarterly Review of Biology (Baltimore, Md.) 3 (December, 1928) pp.595-596. [Not seen.]

  87. Seymour De Ricci. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Mss in the United States and Canada. 1937 (Kraus reprint, 1961). 2 vols. [Not seen. VMS: v.2, pp.1845-1847.]

  88. ``The Roger Bacon Manuscript.'' Scientific American 124 (May 7, 1921) p.362.

  89. ``The Roger Bacon Manuscript: What It Looks Like, and a Discussion of the Possibilities of Decipherment'' Scientific American 124 n.22 (May 28, 1921) p.421[?], 432, 439, 440.

  90. Roberts, R. J. and Andrew G. Watson, eds. John Dee's Library Catalogue. London: The Bibliographical Society, 1990. [Claim the folio numbers in the VMS are by John Dee's hand.]

  91. Jose Ruysschaert. Codices Vaticani Latini 11414 - 11709. Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, 1959. [Not seen. Describes the MSs acquired by the Vatican from the Collegium Romanum, and mentions that W. Voynich bought a number of them which have been transferred to various American libraries, including the VMS.]

  92. Salomon, Richard. Review of Manly's Critique of Newbold's Decipherment. Bibliotek Warburg, Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliographie zum Nachleben der Antike 1 (1934),p.96. [Not seen.]

  93. Sarton, George. Review of Manly's Critique of Newbold's Decipherment. Isis 4 (October 1921) p 404. [Short support of Manly. Not seen.]

  94. Sarton, George. Review of Newbold's Cipher of Roger Bacon. Isis 11 (1928) pp. 141-5. [Critical of Newbold's decipherment, even more so of those who were taken in by it. Not seen.]

  95. Schaefer, Bradley E. The Most Mysterious Astronomical Manuscript: Baffled researchers are looking for astronomical clues to help decipher a medieval manuscript. Sky & Telescope 100, 5 (November, 2000). [Emphasizes the astronomical and astrological aspects of the VMS. Nice reproductions of all the existing Zodiac pages.]

  96. Sebastian, Wencelas. ``The Voynich manuscript; its history and cipher.'' Nos Cahiers,Montreal, 2(1937), pp.47-69. [Not seen.]

  97. The Secular Spirit: Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages. Exhib. cat. (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975) p.203 (with illus.) and color pl. 9. [Not seen.]

  98. Seymour, Ian. ``Thirteenth Century Magic Glass.'' Astronomy Now. June 1992. p.59. [Thinks Bacon saw spiral in M31.]

  99. Shailor, Barbara A. Catalog of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Binghamton, NY: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1984. [Not seen. Volume 2 said to contain a nice description and history of the MS and associated materials at Yale and a plate of 100r.]

  100. Shailor, Barbara A. The medieval book. (Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching, 28). Toronto: University of Toronto Press in association with the Medieval Academy of America, 1991. [Brief mention of VMS on p.105.]

  101. Shepherdson, Nancy ``Mystery codes.'' Boys' Life. November 1997. 87, no. 11, p.42. [Not seen.]

  102. Shuker, Dr. Karl P. N. The Unexplained: an Illustrated Guide to the World's Natural and Paranormal Mysteries Carlton Books Ltd. c1996. ISBN 1-85868-186-3 [Not seen. Has color photographs of f16v, f17r, and a closeup of a flower on f16v.]

  103. Smyth, Frank. ``A script full of secrets.'' The Unexplained, no date [1982?], pp. 1381-1385. [Not seen.]

  104. Smyth, Frank. ``The uncrackable code.'' The Unexplained, no date [1982?], pp. 1418-1420. [Not seen. Both Smyth papers well written and illustrated, according to Denis Mardle.]

  105. Smyth, Frank. ``A script full of secrets'' and ``The uncrackable code,'' reprinted in Mysteries of Mind, Space & Time: The Unexplained, pp. 3062-3069. Westport, Connecticut: H. S. Stuttman, Inc., 1992. [Originally published in The Unexplained in the UK. Has color images of f16v, f17r, f33v, f34r, f68r1, f69r, the bottom six of the nine rosettes in f85/86, f83v, f84r, and a detail of f78r.]

  106. Sowerby, E. M. Rare People & Rare Books. Constable, 1967; Williamsburg: The Bookpress, 1987. [Contains reminiscences, biographical details, and a photograph of W. M. Voynich.]

  107. Steele, Robert. ``Luru Vopo Vir Can Utriet.'' Nature 121 (11 Feb. 1928), pp.208-9. [About Bacon ``gunpowder cipher,'' not VMS.]

  108. Steele, Robert. ``Science in medieval Cipher.'' Nature 122 (13 October 1928), pp.563-65. [Acerbic review of Newbold.]

  109. Stojko, John. Letters to God's Eye: The Voynich Manuscript for the first time deciphered and translated into English New York: Vantage Press, 1978. [Non Cathari sed Khazari.]

  110. Stojko, John; edited by Dovhich, Vitality. Poslannya Oriyan Khozapam: Pam'yatka Drevn'oyi Ukrayins'koyi Movy i Publytsystyky ``Rukopys Voyinycha''. Pershe Ukrayins'ke Vydannya. Vypushcheno Koshtom Ahentstva ``Tak'spravy''. Kyjiv 7503. (c)Indoyevropa, 1995. (Epistles from Ora's Camp to the Khozars: A Memoir of the Ancient Ukrainian Tongue and Writing: ``The Voynich Manuscript''. First Ukrainian Edition. Released (on authority) of the agency ``From the Right.'' Kiev (issue number) 7503. Copyright Indoyevropa, 1995.) [Unauthorized 29 page abridged translation, augmented with modern Ukrainian version of Stojko's decipherements.]

  111. Stokley, James. ``Did Roger Bacon Have a Telescope?'' Science News Letter 14 (Sept. 1, 1928), pp.125-26, 133-34. [Not seen.]

  112. Strong, Leonell C. ``Anthony Askham, the author of the Voynich Manuscript.'' Science, n.s. 101 (15 June 1945): 608-9. [Folio f78, put into English: ``When skuge uf tun'c-bag rip, seo oogon kum sli of se mosure-issue ped-stans sku-bent, stokked kimbo-elbow crawknot.'']

  113. Strong, Leonell C. and McCawley, E. L. ``A Verification of a Hitherto Unknown Prescription of the 16th Century.'' Bulletin of the History of Medicine (Baltimore, Md.) 21(November-December 1947), pp.898-904. [On f93: ``I up a bol koten wet with oil spindl, compound honei, a pine recin spagges gains piler ose firm, err-stirt. Wanne orgie ebb, so koten bee remov'd.'']

  114. Sunday Times (London). 24 Apr 1921, p.15. [Not seen. Presumably about Newbold.]

  115. Theroux, Michael. ``Deciphering `The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World' The Final Word?'' Borderlands 50(1994), pp.36-43. [Believes Newbold was right.]

  116. Thorndike, Lynn. ``The ``Bacon'' Manuscript.'' Letter. Scientific American 124 (June 25, 1921) p.509.

  117. Thorndike, Lynn. Review of Newbold's Cipher of Roger Bacon. American Historical Review, 34(1929): 317-19[318?]. [Not seen.]

  118. Tiltman, John. The Voynich Manuscript: ``The most mysterious manuscript in the world.'' Baltimore: Baltimore Bibliophiles, 1967. [Not seen. Unclear what relation it has to following entry.]

  119. Tiltman, John. ``The Voynich Manuscript, `The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World.' '' NSA Technical Journal 12(July 1967) pp.41-85. [Similar in outline to D'Imperio's book, but leaner. Many poorly reproduced illustrations.]

  120. Times [Newspaper of London]. ``The Voynich Collection of Unknown Books.'' 23 Jul 1906, p 4 col 6. [Puff piece for WMV; not seen.]

  121. Times [Newspaper of London]. ``Books not in the British Museum Sale.'' 19 Oct 1907, p 7 col 3. [Puff piece for WMV; not seen.]

  122. Times [Newspaper of London]. ``Catalog of Prints and Rare Books.'' 8 Jul 1913, p 15 col 4. [Puff piece for WMV; not seen.]

  123. Times [Newspaper of London]. ``Export of English Furniture and Pictures.'' 24 Feb 1916, p 11 col 5. [Mentions WMV's success in exporting books to America. Not seen.]

  124. Times [Newspaper of London]. ``Cathedral Library Thefts: Old Volumes Traced.'' 11 May 1916, p 4 col 1. [Disputed ownership of book in WMV's possession. Not seen.]

  125. Times [Newspaper of London]. ``Mr. W. M. Voynich.'' 22 Mar 1930, p 17 col 2; 25 Mar p 21 col 2; 26 Mar p 18 col 4. [Obituary. Not seen.]

  126. Toresella, Sergio. ``Gli erbari degli alchimisti.'' [Alchemical herbals.] In Arte farmaceutica e piante medicinali -- erbari, vasi, strumenti e testi dalle raccolte liguri, [Pharmaceutical art and medicinal plants -- herbals, jars, instruments and texts of the Ligurian collections.] Liana Saginati, ed. Pisa: Pacini Editore, 1996, pp.31-70. [Profusely illustrated. Fits the VMS into an ``alchemical herbal'' tradition.]

  127. Von Schleinitz, Otto. ``Die Bibliophilen W. M. Voynich.'' Zeitschrift fur Bucherfreunde, 10 (1906/7) pp.481-7. [Not seen. Contains information about Voynich's life.]

  128. Voynich, Wilfrid M. ``A Preliminary Sketch of the History of the Roger Bacon Cipher Manuscript.'' Proceedings of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Philadelphia, pp.415-30, Philadelphia, 1921. Read 20 April 1921.

  129. ``Voynich Manuscript. Botanical Clue, Evidence indicating Roger Bacon could not have written the Voynich manuscript...'' Science News Letter July 29, 1944, p.69. [O'Neill's sunflower.]

  130. ``Voynich Manuscript Translated.'' INFO Journal, #56 [ca. 1988.] [The International Fortean Organization's INFO Journal. Not seen.]

  131. Peter Way. Codes and Ciphers. London: Aldus, 1974. [Perfunctory discussion, wretched illustrations.]

  132. Weekly World News [Newspaper] Mar. 7, 2000, pp.4-7. [Not seen. Interview with Mike Jay, author of VMS article in Fortean Times.]

  133. Werner, Alfred. ``The Most Mysterious Manuscript.'' Horizon, 5(January, 1963), pp.4-9.

  134. Westacott, E. Roger Bacon in Life and Legend. New York: [Publisher?], 1953. [Not seen; has chapter on ``The Cipher of Roger Bacon.'']

  135. Wickware, Francis Sill. ``The Secret Language of War.'' Life 19 (26 November 1945) pp. 63-70. [Only one sentence mentions the VMS, calling it ``possibly the only unbreakable code'' which provoked Strong to write an angry letter to the editor. Not seen.]

  136. Williams, Robert L. ``A Note on the Voynich Manuscript.'' Cryptologia, 23 (October, 1999), pp. 305-309. [Author thinks the initial letter distribution is like that of Greek, but speculates the text is meaningless.]

  137. Wilson, Colin. The encyclopedia of unsolved mysteries. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1988. [Not seen.]

  138. ``The World's Most Baffling Manuscript.'' Parade Magazine. Feb. 21, 1982.

  139. Wrixon, Fred B. Codes, Ciphers, and Other Cryptic and Clandestine Communication, New York: Black Dog and Leventhal, c1998. [Not seen. A brief summary. Has a drawing of f100r.]

  140. Zandonella, Catherine. ``Book of riddles.'' >New Scientist 17 November 2001, 36-39. [Serious. More concise than Grossman; quotes Stolfi, Landini, Zandbergen and Guy.]

  141. Zimansky, Curt A. ``William F. Friedman and the Voynich Manuscript.'' Philological Quarterly 49(1970): 433-42.
Last modified 17 December 2001.

Jim Reeds reeds@######.###