Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich manuscript, described as "the world's most mysterious manuscript", is a work which dates to the early 15th century (1404–1438), possibly from northern Italy. It is named after the book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, who purchased it in 1912.
Some pages are missing, but the current version comprises about 240 vellum pages, most with illustrations. Much of the manuscript resembles herbal manuscripts of the 1500s, seeming to present illustrations and information about plants and their possible uses for medical purposes. However, most of the plants do not match known species, and the manuscript's script and language remain unknown and unreadable. Possibly some form of encrypted ciphertext, the Voynich manuscript has been studied by many professional and amateur cryptographers, including American and British codebreakers from both World War I and World War II. As yet, it has defied all decipherment attempts, becoming a famous case of historical cryptology. The mystery surrounding it has excited the popular imagination, making the manuscript a subject of both fanciful theories and novels. None of the many speculative solutions proposed over the last hundred years has yet been independently verified.
In his will Wilfrid Voynich provided that the VM could be sold to any public institution for $100 000, but could never go to a private collector at any price (quoted in Nottingham Evening Post 21 March 1930).
The Voynich manuscript was donated to Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library in 1969, where it is catalogued under call number MS 408 and called a "Cipher Manuscript". Its pdf of the manuscript is here .
More information on the Wikipedia page and the Wikibooks page 
There are #many, many# websites and books on the VM - some of which are listed on the other Voynich Wiki .
A number of reproductions have been made - eg .
Theories proposing to 'solve or translate' the VM abound - and are of varying degrees of plausibility.
Category:Voynich Manuscript articles