THE COMPLETE VOYNICH MANUSCRIPT 209 pages. These pages will make a truly authentic addition to your Book of Shadows, and who knows maybe you'll be the one to decipher the codex!

If you like a good mystery the Voynich Manuscript will fascinate you! Written in Central Europe at the end of the 15th or during the 16th century, the origin, language, and exact date of the Voynich Manuscript is unknown. It was named after the Polish-American antiquarian bookseller, Wilfrid M. Voynich, who acquired it in 1912. It’s been called the world’s most mysterious book, written in an unknown script by an unknown author. 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. No one has yet succeeded in deciphering the text, and it has become a famous case in the history of cryptography.
There are illustrations of otherworldly plants, unfamiliar constellations, and naked women swimming through fantastical tubes and green baths. Described as a magical or scientific text, nearly every page contains botanical, figurative, and scientific drawings of a provincial but lively character, drawn in ink with vibrant washes in various shades of green, brown, yellow, blue, and red.

The history of ownership of the Voynich manuscript is contested and filled with some gaps. The codex belonged to Emperor Rudolph II of Germany (Holy Roman Emperor, 1576-1612), who purchased it for 600 gold ducats and believed it was Roger Bacon's work. It is very likely that Emperor Rudolph acquired the manuscript from the English astrologer John Dee (1527-1608). Emperor Rudolph seems to have given the manuscript to Jacobus Horcicky de Tepenecz (d. 1622), an exchange based on the inscription visible only with ultraviolet light on folio 1r, which reads: “Jacobi de Tepenecz.” Johannes Marcus Marci of Cronland presented the book to Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680) in 1666. In 1912, Wilfrid M. Voynich purchased the manuscript from the Jesuit College at Frascati near Rome. In 1969, the codex was given to the Beinecke Library by H. P. Kraus, who had purchased it from the estate of Ethel Voynich, Wilfrid Voynich’s widow.