I do love an unsolved historical mystery, and all the better if it’s illustrated! The Voynich Manuscript is a great example of this. A medieval era manuscript full of strange illustrations of monstrous plants that have never existed and bizarre naked bloated ladies on water-slides…
If the artwork contained in this unique manuscript wasn’t enough to enthrall scholars it’s written in a language that appears to be exclusive of this book! A whole alphabet that no one can read or identify, meticulously rendered with flourishes and fanciness. Recurring “words” in the text indicate that it is not gibberish, and in fact must be a code or lost language of some kind. Even the world’s most prominent codebreakers and cipher-readers have yet to unlock the meaning of this strange manuscript!
The Voynich Manuscript has been owned by rare book collectors, monks, and alchemists in many countries and regions, it has survived wars and time itself. Moving through history untranslated and still as mysterious as it was when first found!
A longer article on the manuscript (with more images of the book) here:
-Taeden
Gloomth & the Cult of Melancholy 