After spending considerable time in Voynich Ninja forum, I have come to a consideration somhow uncomfortable.
I believe that there is considerable obstacle to solving the manuscript, that goes beyond the text itself.
   The response to new theories always seems to be immediate scepticism rather than genuine engagement.
    Has the community become so attached to the pursuit of the answer, 
                    that it no long wants the answer itself?
    "The journey is its own reward!"- but is that sentiment blocking the destination?

Hello all! This is my first post on the forum (shockingly, I have not come in to say I have cracked the code and it's actually all in pre-Christian Pictish), and I am well-aware I am not an expert, so please, feel free to correct me if I'm incorrect at all in my question.

I was looking at f14v/r and I noticed the unusual page shape. I do understand that the vellum is extremely precious material and even the highest quality manuscripts would not necessarily dispose of a damaged/misshapen piece. 

However, it got me interested in contemporary versus non-contemporary damage in the manuscript. In this case, it looks to me like the scribe on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. left the exact space needed in the margin to avoid the cut-out, but then again, the hole is ragged and there's damage overlaying a leaf in f14v. 

Is this an example of contemporary (ie, to the time of the creation of quire 2) damage/natural page shape, which has degraded faster than the other edges because of relative thinness? Or is the damage that was inflicted sometime in-between? Is there an existing consensus? 

Also, I tried looking this up but it's almost a certainty with this manuscript that my question has already been exhausted answered, so if there is an existing google doc with a full list of damage to the manuscript etc., please point me to it!

I am curious about people's interpretation of the feature (A) on this UV image of f116v, and of its implications:

   

Let "original text" mean text that was written on blank vellum.  Do you think that 
[1] the (A) line it is not the edge of a water spill.
[2] the (A) line is the edge of a water spill, but it does not matter because:
[2.1] it happened before any text was written on this page.
[2.2] it happened after some text was written on this page, and
[2.2.1] it did not affect the text, so what we see is exactly the original text.
[2.2.2] it erased some of the original text, but 
[2.2.2.1] what was not erased by the spill is exactly what we see.
[2.2.2.2] the text we see is the result of a restoration attempt, and
[2.2.2.2.1] the whole original text was accurately restored.
[2.2.2.2.2] some original text was lost, 
[2.2.2.2.2.1] but what survived was accurately restored.
[2.2.2.2.2.2] and the restorer made some errors.
[2.2.2.2.2.3] and the restoration is mostly wrong.
[9] Other.

All the best, --stolfi

Is the Voynich Manuscript a 15th-Century Multimedia Production Ledger?
Hello everyone,
I wanted to share a structural hypothesis regarding the text layout and illustrations, specifically looking at the manuscript not as encoded prose, but as a Master Production Ledger for a 15th-century multimedia theatrical performance (a Renaissance Spettacolo or Mystery Play).
Because the text violates standard linguistic practices and features hyper-repetitive word chains, I believe we are looking at a polyphonic musical score and vocal canon layout rather than spoken sentences.

Here is the structural framework of the hypothesis:
    The Vocal Script & Backup Cues (Folio 1r): The text behaves like a multipart vocal score. The large "pi-like" characters and distinct "gallows" symbols at the margins function as signum perfectionis (canon cues) or backing vocal indicators. They mark the exact beat where backup singers or a secondary choir layer into a horizontal round.
    The Positional Paradox: The strict rules governing where letters can appear (such as the "figure-8" and "number-2" shapes) may represent consonant closures or phonetic articulation cues designed to align different voices holding long, polyphonic vowel sounds.
    The Circular Rotas as Stationary Stage Directions: The circular diagrams act as medieval rotae (perpetual canons). The single subject drawn in the dead center is not a cosmological map, but a visual representation of the stationary set piece or mansion where that specific movement takes place.
    The 9-Rosettes Folio is a Venue Cue-Sheet: The 6-panel foldout maps out a grand finale utilizing an entire Italian castle courtyard complex. The surrounding circles track a cascading timeline of Renaissance stage illusions (water features, flash-powder fire effects, and reflected mirror starlight), culminating in a strategic acoustic layout where backup choirs perform from the towers, forcing acoustic resonance down into the central courtyard.

How to Test This (Calling all Programmers):
To test this mathematically, we need to bypass standard alphabet decoding and treat the text as an audio grid. I am looking for anyone interested in writing a script to analyze the repetitive phrases (like triple-repeating words) by stacking the text blocks over themselves at varied word-offsets.
If we map the characters to a 15th-century microtonal scale (such as an Arabic Maqam or a Byzantine/Old Russian Znamenny framework) and offset the lines like a musical round, do the overlapping vertical columns yield statistically significant harmonic intervals rather than dissonance?
I'm just a fresh set of eyes looking at the visual pacing of the document. I would love to hear your thoughts on the structural viability of this performance-led approach!

Let's go

Certain representations in the VMs are proposed to have potential connections to historical illustrations produced in Paris early in the 15th C.

BNF Fr. 565, the posthumous 'Oresme' cosmos, with a very simplified structure without any planets and with 43 undulations in its elaborate, scallop-shell cloud band. Dated c. 1410, belonged to the Duke of Berry.

Harley 334, an even more posthumous 'de Metz' version of cosmic illustrations, lacking the elaborate cosmic boundary, but has a mermaid with four "companions". Dated second quarter of 15th C.

Morgan M.133, The Berry Apocalypse, which has examples where a plain nebuly line is used as a cosmic boundary - as is seen in the VMs cosmos. Dated 1415, belonged to the Duke of Berry (d. 1416).
 
Harley 4431, the Book of the Queen, the illustration of the nine Muses bathing in an arcaded fountain. Other versions show nine ladies, but the tub / fountain is different. In the VMs, the only pool with nine women is curvy, and only arcaded on the distal portion. Dated 1410-1414.

Several Parisian sources depicting fillet-type headbands comparable to VMs f67v1. 

UBH Cod.Sal.IXa   Missale Parisciense  Dated 1400.

MET 54.1.1 Belles Heures  Dated 1405-1408, belonged to the Duke of Berry.

BGE Ms. fr. 190/1 Des cas des noble hommes et femmes. Dated 1410, belonged to the Duke of Berry.

Harley 4431, the Book of the Queen  Dated 1410-1414.

Hi friends! It's your guy @JustAnotherTheory. It appears that the folio You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. in the VMS might be inspired by an Occitan love song? 

   

Here is a comparison of the folio with different copies of the Le Breviari d’amor de Matfre Ermengaud from the 13th century.


   

As you can see, 4 figures pointing to each other. Several writing in the geometric areas between the people, and around them as well, can be seen too.

What do you think?

I have completed a linguistic analysis of the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. marginalia based on several years of work. 

Findings (very brief):

- script and phonology indicate a Central Bavarian Dialect (15th century) 

- numerous Latin pharmaceutical abbreviations could be resolved

- The text reads as an ointment recipe, it is not magical

- The two encoded words in "Voynichese" were resolved and fit the recipe context (not a spell)

- Linguistic interference shows the scribe wrote in Central Bavarian with Latin abbreviations
  but was not a native German Speaker

- Previously unnoticed "wrong" word boundaries (e.g. anchiton > an/ c / hi / ton > an Zeh hin tun > apply to toe) were corrected and now yields a coherent context

Full analysis: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Feedback is welcome. Thank you for your interest.

Penn Library's LJS 419 (Erbario) is an early 1400s herbal manuscript from Northern Italy. It looks like it shares many features with the VMS! These include non-existent plants, weird roots and alchemical looking herbs. 

Here is a full scan on archive.org: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

   

What do you think?

My teenagers have (surprisingly) expressed a bit of interest in this subject matter and I noticed Simon Singh had a version of The Code Book adapted to younger readers, which I've added to my Amazon cart.

Does anyone have suggestions of some other foundational books that might be approachable for the high school/early university level reader? I'm thinking Andrew Robinson too, but I definitely don't want to over-do it and scare them back to their ipads, so any approachable summer reading suggestions for them would be welcome!