Voynich MS - Quire 1

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Folios in Quire 1

Quire 1 contains folios 1 through 8. The gathering mark is on f8v.

folio 1

Normal folio.

f1r

Text only, in 4 paragraphs. Paragraphs 2 and 3 have large initials (coloured red) which are not part of the Voynich alphabet. The first of these is the old-style (Greek) Aries symbol.
After the paragraph ends, there are further words (right justified) as if these were the name of the author in a quotation.
The folio number is not visible, but there seems to be a spurious(?) gathering mark (29, secundus?) in the upper right corner.

f1r contains the signature: Jacobj à Tepenece, visible under UV light (after chemicals had been applied, according to W. Voynich.
Brumbaugh also reports that below Tepenec's sognature is the word "Prag"
It also contains a tantalising "key" on the right margin, with a column of roman A - Z with obscured Voynich chars standing next to it. Some few are a bit more visible under UV than under ordinary light. This key is also discussed by Brumbaugh. It seems to have 3 vertical columns of letters. The leftmost is the ordinary alphabet, lower case italic hand, a through z. I (<Reeds) could not check for the presence of every letter (I'm not sure about j, for instance) but a, b, c, ... o, p, q, r, s, ... y, z are pretty clear. Next to those are very spotty fragments of Voynich letters. I could make out 8 next to a, R next to c, 6 next to y, and one of the gallows letters somewhere near the q, r, s range. That's all I could make out. An obvious choice for that fancy multi-spectral stuff you read about in Science News. The 3d column seems to be 1 off from the first: italic miniscules, r next to s, and so on. More is visible Bn UV shots than Petersen shows.

This is possibly an attempt by one of the owners to decipher the alphabet.
Brumbaugh also mentions the year 1*30 being written above the alphabet, and favors the theory that it is 1630, written by the owner prior to Marci.

The Yale copyflo is almost unreadable.

An illustration of this page appears in Levitov, p.93 (<Reeds)
Colours: The two "doodles" are red.

f1v

A nicely drawn plant with clear leaves and a small flower. Enormous roots with 'teeth'. Two paragraphs of text left and right of stem.
Possible plant identification: uva lupi, atropa belladonna, solatrum d[iv|w]ale, Ref: Fuchs p.398 (according to Petersen).

An illustration of this page appears in Reeds (ref), p.3 (<Reeds)
Colours: Green and tan (or yellow cf. Petersen)

folio 2

Normal folio

f2r

Plant like a clover with funny leaves. Simple roots. Two paragraphs of text, one through flowers and other below leaves. Folio nr. (2) in upper right corner.
Possible plant identification: Cyanus segelis coeruleus (Kornblume), centaurea (cf. Holm)
The plant is labelled.
Colours: Green, green with red spots (buds) and light yellow (flower)

f2v

Beautiful white(?) water flower
Possible plant identification: Collocasia, Egyptian lotus. Nymphoides Peltata (yellow floating heart) (<Zandbergen). No roots but seems to grow on a tree branch (type of water-flower root.
Two very short paragraphs of text.
Colours: White (flower) and green (rest)

folio 3

Normal folio

f3r

Plant has stem with closely stacked leaves. Possible plant identification: crassulatea (Cretan Dittany)
One para of text near top and three near bottom. Folio nr. (3) in upper right corner.
Colours: Green (leaves) and red

f3v

Plant with 'telescope' roots, frog-like leaves and pods. Two para's of text.

An >> IMAGE of part of f3v can be seen at rand.org.
Colours: Green (leaves), blue (pods) and red

folio 4

Normal folio

f4r

Plant with lots of tiny leaves and small flowers. Two paras of text. Folio nr. (4) in upper right corner. Possible plant identification: O'Neill Centaurium Erythaea
Colours: Leaves green (some red) and yellow flowers

f4v

Plant with tiny leaves and apparently two types of flowers. Bulging stem above nondesript roots.

An illustration of this page appears in Reeds (ref), p.4 (<Reeds)
Colours: brown bulb, green leaves and blue flower

folio 5

Normal folio

f5r

Folio nr (5) in upper right corner
Colours: green, also blue or brown

f5v

Plant stem has impossible(?) 'loop'. One para of text.
Colours: red and blue flowers, yellow, green leaves, light brown bulb

folio 6

Normal folio

f6r

Plant has leaves similar to those on fol. 50r
Folio nr (6) in upper right corner
Colours: green pods with red openings and yellow 'cushions' on the side. Green leaves and yellow roots.

f6v

Colours: green leaves, green seeds with blue thorns

folio 7

Normal folio

f7r

Huge flower with 8-fold symmetry, short stem and simple bifurcating roots. The roots make me believe this is a large magnification of a very small flower. Two paragraphs of text. Folio nr (7) in upper right corner.
Possible plant identification: Nymphaea alba (Holm)
Colours: Flower: green, white, red (outside in), red roots

f7v

An illustration of this page appears in Levitov, p.10 (<Reeds)

folio 8

Normal folio

f8r

Herbal. No flower. Leaf looks very much like Ivy. Three paragraphs of text. All three end with one word (signature) in right margin (as on f1r). Folio nr (8) in upper right corner.

f8v

Two paras of text (longish). Gathering nr. 'Pm9' in lower right corner.

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