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The Undecipherable Voynich Manuscript Can Be Viewed Online in Its Entirety

By Eva Baron

mymodernmet.com/voynich-manu...?

More information here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich...

Voynich Manuscript at @internetarchive@mastodon.archive.org archive.org/details/TheV...

#oldmanuscript
This Undecipherable 15th-Century Manuscript Baffles Researchers
Named after the rare books collector Wilfrid Voynich, who acquired it in 1912, the manuscript continues to baffle skilled cryptologists to this day.
mymodernmet.com
February 23, 2025 at 10:52 AM
gutenberg.org
Lost for 400 Years: Researcher Discover Hidden Copy of Shakespeare Sonnet

By University of Oxford

scitechdaily.com/lost-for-400...

Full article by Leah S Veronese is available here:
academic.oup.com/res/advance-...

#books #literature #oldmanuscript
Shake-Speare's Sonnets, quarto published by Thomas Thorpe, London, 1609, title page
April 15, 2025 at 3:30 PM
gutenberg.org
The Voynich Manuscript revealed: five things you probably did not know about the Medieval masterpiece

By Garry Shaw

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/05/05/t...

More information:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich...

#books #oldmanuscript
A page from the mysterious Voynich manuscript, which is undeciphered to this day. Page 175; f99r, of the pharmaceutical section Unknown author - Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University.
May 6, 2025 at 11:02 AM
gutenberg.org
Armenia Is About To Put Its Ancient Manuscripts Online For Free

By Amos Chapple

www.rferl.org/a/armenia-ma...

Armenia at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subje...

#Books #History #OldManuscript
Carved ivory binding, front cover in five sections of Echmiadzin Gospel, Virgin and Child with scenes from her life, 6th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matenadaran#/media/File:Echgospfrontcov.jpeg
July 28, 2025 at 9:38 AM
gutenberg.org
A surprising number of medieval scribes were women

New research estimates around 8,000 of those manuscripts could still exist today.

By Andrew Paul

www.popsci.com/science/medi...

#books #oldmanuscript
This copy of 'The Canterbury Tales' was produced in the 1430s. Credit: Brigade Piron / Wikipedia Commons The page is divided into two columns of Gothic script, written in a careful, black ink hand. The text is in Middle English, in the dialect of Geoffrey Chaucer’s original work. Margins are generous, a sign of a high-quality manuscript. The first letter of the text or sections features large, decorative initials in blue and red, often highlighted with white detailing and gold leaf. These initials are sometimes framed or flourished with vines and patterns that extend into the margins.
April 5, 2025 at 10:27 AM
gutenberg.org
Researchers Unearth The Oldest Illustrated Book Ever Found, An Egyptian Map Of The Underworld

By Natasha Ishak

allthatsinteresting.com/book-of-two-...

Original article (free access) here:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

#bookillustration #oldmanuscript
Researchers Unearth The Oldest Illustrated Book Ever Found, An Egyptian Map Of The Underworld
Most etchings have been difficult to make out but the scientists believe they describe rituals to bring deceased gods or humans back to life.
allthatsinteresting.com
March 10, 2025 at 10:28 AM
gutenberg.org
Ireland’s Oldest and Largest Medieval Book Shrine Goes on Public View for the First Time

By Kate Mothes

www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/06/loug...

Ireland at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subje...

#Books #Oldmanuscript
Ireland's Oldest and Largest Medieval Book Shrine Goes on Public View for the First Time
Found in 1986 and following a 39-year conservation project, Ireland's oldest and largest medieval book shrine is now on view.
www.thisiscolossal.com
July 2, 2025 at 8:39 AM
gutenberg.org
#OTD in 1859.
German scholar Constantin von Tischendorf identifies portions of the mid-4th century Codex Sinaiticus at Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in the Khedivate of Egypt.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_S...

Monumenta Sacra Inedita:
archive.org/details/Tisc...

#books #oldmanuscript
Codex Sinaiticus - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
February 4, 2025 at 11:10 AM
gutenberg.org
A better coverage can be found here:

www.cam.ac.uk/stories/song...

#OldManuscript
Lost English legend decoded, solving a Chaucerian mystery and revealing a medieval preacher’s meme
Decoding a lost English legend, solving a Chaucerian mystery, and revealing a medieval preacher’s meme
www.cam.ac.uk
July 17, 2025 at 8:57 AM
gutenberg.org
A Lost Bit of the Story of Merlin and Arthur Has Been Found at Cambridge

By Molly Templeton

reactormag.com/a-lost-bit-o...

You can explore the manuscript for yourself at Cambridge Digital Libraries
cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/...

Merlin at PG
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/searc...

#oldmanuscript
Illustration from page 16 of The Boy's King Arthur: "And when they came to the sword that the hand held, King Arthur took it up." N. C. Wyeth - The Boy's King Arthur: Sir Thomas Malory's History of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, Edited for Boys by Sidney Lanier (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1922).
March 30, 2025 at 10:33 AM
gutenberg.org
Women Played a More Important Role in Producing Medieval Manuscripts Than Previously Thought

New research suggests that women were the scribes of at least 1.1 percent of manuscripts in the Latin West between 400 and 1500 C.E.

By Sarah Kuta

www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/w...

#oldmanuscript
Women Played a More Important Role in Producing Medieval Manuscripts Than Previously Thought
New research suggests that women were the scribes of at least 1.1 percent of manuscripts in the Latin West between 400 and 1500 C.E.
www.smithsonianmag.com
March 25, 2025 at 10:13 AM
gutenberg.org
A 600-year-old Chaucer mystery may finally be solved

A medieval sermon packed with 'memes' and simple spelling mistakes could explain a baffling line in 'The Canterbury Tales.'

By Andrew Paul

www.popsci.com/science/chau...

Cantebury Tales at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/searc...

#OldManuscript
Ellesmere Chaucer, mssEL 26 C 9, folio 153v, Tale of Melibee with portrait of Geoffrey Chaucer. The Ellesmere Chaucer (Huntington Library, San Marino, California, MS EL 26 C 9) is one of the most famous illuminated manuscripts of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, produced in England in the early 15th century, likely around 1400–1410. Folio 153v contains the beginning of the Tale of Melibee. In the upper margin, there is a finely executed portrait of Geoffrey Chaucer himself. He is depicted as a mature man in a dark hooded robe, with a forked beard, holding a rosary and gesturing as if speaking — visually reinforcing his role as the narrator and participant in the tales. This small portrait is one of several scattered throughout the manuscript, each illustrating the different pilgrims telling their stories. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterbury_Tales#/media/File:Ellesmere_Chaucer,_mssEL_26_C_9,_folio_153v_color_enhanced.jpg
July 16, 2025 at 9:43 AM
gutenberg.org
#OTD in 1872.

Assyriologist George Smith presents the first translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh to a meeting of the Society of Biblical Archaeology in London.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of...

The Chaldean account of Genesis at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60559

#assyriology #oldmanuscript
GilgameshTablet Reverse of Inscribed Terra Cotta Tablet containing the Account of the Deluge, showing the various fragments of which it was composed at the time of Mr. Smith’s Translation.
December 3, 2024 at 8:50 AM
gutenberg.org
The Mystery of the World’s Oldest Writing System Remained Unsolved Until Four Competitive Scholars Raced to Decipher It

By Joshua Hammer

www.smithsonianmag.com/history/myst...

Austen Henry Layard at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho...

#history #oldmanuscript
The Mystery of the World's Oldest Writing System Remained Unsolved Until Four Competitive Scholars Raced to Decipher It
In the 1850s, cuneiform was just a series of baffling scratches on clay, waiting to spill the secrets of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia
www.smithsonianmag.com
February 12, 2025 at 10:37 AM
gutenberg.org
Spiral into the ‘golden ratio’ – and separate the myths from the maths

aeon.co/videos/spira...

More information about the Fibonacci sequence:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonac...

#OldManuscript #Mathematics
A page of Fibonacci's Liber Abaci from the Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze showing (in box on right) 13 entries of the Fibonacci sequence: the indices from present to XII (months) as Latin ordinals and Roman numerals and the numbers (of rabbit pairs) as Hindu-Arabic numerals starting with 1, 2, 3, 5 and ending with 377. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_sequence#/media/File:Liber_abbaci_magliab_f124r.jpg
July 17, 2025 at 9:11 AM
gutenberg.org
This 2,200-Year-Old Chinese Medical Text May Be The Oldest Human Anatomy Chart In History

By Natasha Ishak

allthatsinteresting.com/china-mawang...

Ancient Medicine at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subje...

#Books #Medicine #Oldmanuscript
This is a traditional Chinese medical illustration, from a historical acupuncture manual. It shows a male figure with anatomical markings related to acupuncture meridians and points. The man is shown bare-chested, wearing traditional loose Chinese garments. He has a long black beard and mustache, and his hair is tied up with a blue ribbon or cloth, in a style typical of classical Chinese scholars. He stands with a slight contrapposto twist, his left arm bent inward, and his right hand extended outward.
July 11, 2025 at 9:14 AM
gutenberg.org
A New Copy of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116: A Cavalier Cover Version

The poem is a copy of Henry Lawes’ song-setting which adds six new lines to the poem.

By Leah S Veronese

academic.oup.com/res/advance-...

#books #literature #oldmanuscript
Sonnet 116 in the 1609 Quarto of Shakespeare's sonnets The poet begins by stating he does not object to the "marriage of true minds", but maintains that love is not true if it changes with time; true love should be constant, regardless of difficulties. In the seventh line, the poet makes a nautical reference, alluding to love being much like the north star is to sailors. True love is, like the polar star, "ever-fixed". Love is "not Time's fool", though physical beauty is altered by it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_116
March 5, 2025 at 10:25 AM