Publisher
wins rights to a book no one can read
Voynich' manuscript is written in an
unknown or coded language
It's one of the world's most
mysterious books, a centuries old manuscript written in an unknown or coded
language that no one -not even the best cryptographers -has cracked.
Scholars
have spent their lives puzzling over the Voynich Manuscript, whose intriguing
mix of elegant writing and drawings of strange plants and naked women has some
believing it holds magical powers.
The
weathered book is locked away in a vault at Yale University's Beinecke Library,
emerging only occasionally. But after a 10-year quest for access, Siloe, a
small publishing house nestled deep in northern Spain, has secured the right to
clone the document -to the delight of its director.
“Touching
the Voynichis an experience,“ says Juan Jose Garcia, sitting on the top floor
of a book museum in the quaint centre of Burgos where Siloe's office is, a few
paved streets away from the city's famed Gothic cathedral.
Siloe,
which specialises in making facsimiles of old manuscripts, has bought the
rights to make 898 exact replicas of the Voynich -so faithful that every stain,
hole, sewn-up tear in the parchment will be reproduced.
The
publishing house plans to sell the facsimiles for 7,000 to 8,000 euros ($7,800
to $8,900) apiece once completed -and close to 300 people have already put in
pre-orders.
Raymond
Clemens, curator at the Beinecke Library, said Yale decided to have facsimiles
done because of the many people who want to consult the fragile manuscript. “We
thought that the facsimile would provide the look and feel of the original for
those who were interested,“ he said.
Source | Mumbai Mirror | 22 August 2016
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Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Library
Khaitan
& Co
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