Voynich MS - Quire 8

	Voynich MS - Quire 8
General For an explanation of the material found on this page, see here. Description Quire 8 probably used to contain 5 normal-sized bifolia. The three central bifolia are lost. Quire 8 currently contains folios 57, 58, 65 and 66. The gathering mark is on f66v. Schematic folio layout:
		Folio 57
Normal folio. The folio nr. is on f57r.
		f57r
>>Link to 2014 scan (Beinecke digital library) >>Link to 2004 scan (Jason Davies Voyager) General description This is a herbal page. For general information about herbal pages see here. It has the folio nr (57) in the upper right corner. Illustration(s) Very large drawing of a plant, with a bulbous root from which three stems go up. Those on the left and right are very small, and the middle one develops the main part of the plant. The small ones do have faint blue flowers. All leaves are similar, with many fingers and frills. Several flowers, all blue. This plant shows some similarity with plant fragment #25 on f89r1. Herbal drawing characterisation (Gheuens/Rapaport): (none) Text This page has 11 text items (loci), as follows: 11 lines of standard text in paragraphs. The text is in two paragraphs, the second carefully avoiding the plant. Currier language: B RZ language: B (page) / C- (folio) / C (bifolio) LFD hand: 5 Browse interlinear transliteration of f57r Tentative identifications ELV: geranium. Other information The two text paragraphs have quite different textual properties.
		f57v
>>Link to 2014 scan (Beinecke digital library) >>Link to 2004 scan (Jason Davies Voyager) General description This is a so-called cosmological page. For general information about cosmological pages see here. There is a symbol in the lower-right corner, which does not look like a standard quire mark. Illustration(s) A circular drawing with four concentric circular bands with writing. In the centre are four 'persons', showing their heads and alternatingly one or two arms. One of them is holding a ring or a small sphere. There is a small flower in the centre of the diagram. Text This page has 13 text items (loci), as follows: 4 items of circular writing; 4 items of writing along radii (all outward); 5 individual words (labels). There are four bands with circular text. Outside the outermost circle, to the top left, is a single word (label) that appears to mark the start point. At this point, all four bands have a vertical line equally indicating a start marker. All four bands have single characters and single words. The second ring from the outside has a four times reapeating sequence of single characters. There are four short texts radiating from the centre and four labels near the persons. There is an additional 'symbol' in the lower right corner of the page, that is not Voynichese writing and also does not look like a quire mark. Currier language: B RZ language: A- (page) / C- (folio) / C (bifolio) LFD hand: 1 Browse interlinear transliteration of f57v Tentative identifications To me it appears as if the symbol in the lower right corner of the page might say "17th". Other information This page includes many special characters that otherwise occur only rarely. The four times repeating sequence in the second ring from the outside has 4 x 17 characters. Only in some individual places the repeated characters are not identical.
		Folio 58
Normal folio. The folio nr. is on f58r.
		f58r
>>Link to 2014 scan (Beinecke digital library) >>Link to 2004 scan (Jason Davies Voyager) General description This is a text-only page, with stars drawn in the margin (see also here). It has the folio nr (58) in the upper right corner. Illustration(s) There are three star images, one near the start of each paragraph. They have 6, 7 and 8 points respectively. Text This page has 41 text items (loci), as follows: 41 lines of standard text in paragraphs. The text is in three long paragraphs. The first paragraph has the first three lines somewhat indented for no obvious reason. Currier language: A RZ language: A (page) / A (folio) / A (bifolio) LFD hand: 3 Browse interlinear transliteration of f58r Tentative identifications Other information The three stars are reminiscent of the recipes section in quire 20
		f58v
>>Link to 2014 scan (Beinecke digital library) >>Link to 2004 scan (Jason Davies Voyager) General description This is a text-only page, with stars drawn in the margin (see also here). Illustration(s) One six-pointed star near the top of the page, above the first paragraph of writing. Text This page has 39 text items (loci), as follows: 39 lines of standard text in paragraphs, one of which is centred. The text is in four paragraphs. The first paragraph is the longest, covering half the page, with the last line centered. All writing is very neat. Currier language: A RZ language: A+ (page) / A (folio) / A (bifolio) LFD hand: 3 Browse interlinear transliteration of f58v Tentative identifications Other information
		Folio 59
Missing folio.
		Folio 60
Missing folio.
		Folio 61
Missing folio.
		Folio 62
Missing folio.
		Folio 63
Missing folio.
		Folio 64
Missing folio.
		Folio 65
Normal folio. The folio nr. is on f65r.
		f65r
>>Link to 2014 scan (Beinecke digital library) >>Link to 2004 scan (Jason Davies Voyager) General description This is a herbal page. For general information about herbal pages see here. It has the folio nr (65) in the upper right corner. Illustration(s) A plant drawing completely filling the page. The roots have bulbs and the leaves have fingers with frills, very much like f57r. There are many small starry flowers, without any paint. Herbal drawing characterisation (Gheuens/Rapaport): (none) Text This page has 1 text item (locus, as follows: 1 plant label. There are only two (or three?) words of writing near the plant (label). Currier language: - RZ language: - (page) / C (folio) / A (bifolio) LFD hand: 3 Browse interlinear transliteration of f65r Tentative identifications ELV: geranium. ThP: rue, dropwort, spiraea filipendula. Other information
		f65v
>>Link to 2014 scan (Beinecke digital library) >>Link to 2004 scan (Jason Davies Voyager) General description This is a herbal page. For general information about herbal pages see here. Illustration(s) Big plant with small flowers and one larger trumpet-like flower. Herbal drawing characterisation (Gheuens/Rapaport): (none) Text This page has 6 text items (loci), as follows: 6 lines of standard text in paragraphs. The text is two very short paragraphs. Unusually,these paragraphs are centred as a whole. They are in the lower part of the page, around the plant stem. Currier language: - RZ language: C (page) / C (folio) / A (bifolio) LFD hand: 3 Browse interlinear transliteration of f65v Tentative identifications ELV: anthemis, some kind of chamomila. ThP: chamomile. st.jacobskraut. Other information
		Folio 66
Normal folio. The folio nr. is on f66r.
		f66r
>>Link to 2014 scan (Beinecke digital library) >>Link to 2004 scan (Jason Davies Voyager) General description This is a text-only page, but there are marginal drawings in the lower left corner, with some extraneous writing, possibly in German. It has the folio nr (66) in the upper right corner. Illustration(s) In the lower left corner, a picture of a dead or very sick person accompanied by undetermined items Text This page has 82 text items (loci), as follows: 32 lines of standard text in paragraphs; 50 individual words or characters (labels). The 32 lines of 'running text' appears in five paragraphs. In the left margin there are two columns. The first (leftmost) consists of 15 words and the second consists of 34 single characters. Near the dying person there are some Voynich words, together forming one label, and some cleartext. Currier language: B RZ language: B (page) / B (folio) / C (bifolio) LFD hand: 5 Browse interlinear transliteration of f66r Tentative identifications Richard Salomon considered that the German words say: "der musdel", a term related to German inheritance laws. The characters appear to be overwritten, and I have considered that, instead, it says "der musmel", which is a type of flour from which a porridge used to be made. Other information Both the running text and the sequences of characters include several special characters (for example the so-called picnic tables). There have been many different attempts to understand the cleartext in relation with the drawings near it, but none of these stand out for being very convincing.
		f66v
>>Link to 2014 scan (Beinecke digital library) >>Link to 2004 scan (Jason Davies Voyager) General description This is a herbal page. For general information about herbal pages see here. Gathering mark in lower-right corner. Illustration(s) A plant with small but particular roots, two flowers towards the bottom of the plant, and stacks of weird curling leaves, alternating green and white. Herbal drawing characterisation (Gheuens/Rapaport): (none) Text This page has 13 text items (loci), as follows: 13 lines of standard text in paragraphs. The text is in three paragraphs, above the drawing. There is an unreadable signature, not more than some scribbles, in the lower-left corner. Currier language: B RZ language: C (page) / B (folio) / C (bifolio) LFD hand: 5 Browse interlinear transliteration of f66v Tentative identifications ELV: aristolochia? ThP: primula? Other information The scribbles in the lower-left corner are similar to those found on f86v3.