Reeds/Landini's interlinear file in EVA, version 1.6e5

This is a new version of the the Reeds/Landini interlinear VMS transcription. Compared to version 16e4, it includes transcriptions of a few additional pages (including most of the astro/cosmo section, and parts of the zodiac) and all new "page description" files, some with very detailed descriptions.

The files

The release is available as:

• a single file (gzip, 243 kB) (PKZIP, 245 kB)
• 729 separate files, one for each "text unit"---meaning a a page, or a part threof, containing a single type of text (paragraphs, labels, circular text, etc.) (tar+gzip, 277 kB) (PKZIP, 484 kB)

You can also get only the comments that describe each page:

• a single file (gzip, 65 kB) (PKZIP, 66 kB)
• 270 separate files, one for each page (tar+gzip, 81 kB) (PKZIP, 197 kB)

Finally, you may want to get a machine-readable index file that lists the text units and their attributes, in their logical order; and extensive comments describing the main differences between this version and Landini's original file.

The text is in EVMT standard format except that the page locator lines (needed by Rene Zandbergen's VTX page extraction tool) have been commented out with `## '. Thus, if you are a VTX user, you should delete all occurrences of `## ' in that file.

The alphabet is basic EVA; weirdoes are transcribed as "*" often with their extended EVA code in {}-comments.

Why?

Currently, the reference "electronic edition" of the VMs text is Gabriel Landini interlinear file (interln16.evt), which contains transcriptions done by Friedman, Currier, Tiltman, and others (most of them compiled by Jim Reeds and Jacques Guy).

Although it was produced mainly as an archival compilation of those early transcription efforts, Landini's interlinear is also the largest and best-documented sample of VMs text that is publicly available. However, because of its archival purpose, Landini's file uses the FSG encoding of the Voynich alphabet, and does not include many recent transcriptions.

For most of my analysis work, I have been using using this hacked version of Landini's interlinear, which I translated the new European Voynich Alphabet (EVA), and gradually expanded with new material.

Presumably other Voynichologists will find this file useful, that is why I am posting it here. It is not meant to be a replacement for the Reeds/Landini inerlinear (an historical document about the efforts of Friedman and co.), and neither to compete with the EVMT transcription effort (which will be complete, and *a lot* more accurate).

Main differences between versions 1.6e4 and 1.6e5

• Added a short glossary of terms used in page descriptions (unit f0.Z).
• Renumbered some units and labels in astro/cosmo section to match John Grove's numbering and/or the "obvious" reading order.
• New transcriptions of text/labels/keyseqs/etc., mostly by John Grove and myself (f1r, f17r, f58v, f67r1, f67r2, f67v2, f67v1, f68r1, f68r2, f68r3, f68v3, f68v2, f68v1, f69r, f69v, f70r1, f70r2, f70v1, f72v2, f85r2, f86v4, f86v3).
• Fixed a few more line-breaking bugs in the FSG (";F") transcription (f68r1, f68v2, f68v3, f70r2, f86v4, f86v3).
• New description files for all pages, with bifolio numbers, Jim Reeds's colors, Petersen's plants, Beinecke's and Rene's quire numbers, star and nymph counts, etc.
• A couple dozen very detailed descriptions of plants and diagrams.

All this new material was entered mainly by John Grove and myself, from sources that are not subject to the Beinecke Library restrictions.