The possibility that the Voynich Manuscript was once accompanied by separate code-book which is now lost is very real (and very disheartening for the text researchers). Example of such cipher during the Italian War 1494/95 is held in the Vatican Secret Archives and is currently part of exhibition (visit here ).
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The code-pages belong to Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia). Here is the description of the document in display:
The code-pages belong to Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia). Here is the description of the document in display:
In short, if the Voynich Manuscript text is result of this kind of cipher then the only chance to read it is if the code book survives to this day in some dusty archive.The nomenclator contains various cryptographic systems: two different substitution enciphering alphabets, together with a third substitution option for vowels alone; a grid laid out on three text lines containing verbs, pronouns and articles with their substitution symbols: for example a letter of the Greek alphabet, lambda (λ), for the words “being silent”; a backward “c” (ɔ) for the word “riding”; finally, on three columns, a series of words and phrases (probably the most recurring, the most “delicate”, the most “secret”) swapped with names on the first column and by syllables on the second and third columns; thus, 23 substitutes the word “pappa” (pope), 46 “facto d’arme” (armed clash), “cc” means “the pope’s daughter”, “gu” “the pope’s children”, “nu” “Florentines”, “no” “Venetians” and so forth. The utter secrecy of codebooks, which were often destroyed not to preserve any trace and periodically renewed, still prevents us from correctly interpreting some dispatches, which are destined to remain forever secret.