It has been described as the world's most mysterious manuscript, and controversy rages whether it is an elaborate hoax, the product of a complicated cipher, or a relic of a lost language.

Appearing as form of naturalists mini-encyclopedia or alchemists treatiste,the Voynich Manuscript is copiously illustrated with paintings of plants that do not exist along with enigmatic circular grilles that enclose further letters and mysterious images.

Even more mysterious, the manuscriptitself iswritten in a mysterious alphabet of 28 strange letters, whose pattern and frequency resemble no known European language; no one has successfully translated the text, andthe Voynich Manuscript's contents have eluded decryption for the last century.

It's origins are unknown, but are thought to orginate from the 16th century; it first appeared in the library of King Rudolph of Bavaria in 1596 after being purchased from an unknown bookseller for 3.5 kg of gold. It is named after its most recent discoverer, bibliophile Wilfrid Voynich, who discovered it in the archives of a Jesuit library in 1912, and later had it donated to Yale University after his death.

The Voynich manuscript hasbeen spuriously "translated" many times, and one recent theory that appeared in a December 2003 issue of Nature is that the manuscript is nothing more than a complicated hoax generated by one familar with cryptographic theory.

Links:

http://www.voynich.nu/

http://voynich.no-ip.com/folios/

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/voynich.html

http://www.crystalinks.com/voynich.html

Wired Magazine Article 12/09