Page f1r
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Identification
Title: "First page"
Page: f1r = AA (Rene) = p001 (Stolfi)
Folio: f1
Panels: f1r
Bifolio: bA1 = f1+f8
Quire: A (Rene) = I (Beinecke)
Page 1 of the British Library photocopies.
Attributes
Language: A (Currier)
Hand: 1 (Currier)
Subsets: T (Rene), unk (Stolfi)
Subject: unknown (text only).
Colors: red(weirdos) (Reeds), red(weirdos,extraneous_letters) (Rene)
Description
The page contains four paragraphs (units P1,P2,P3,P4)
with 4.6, 2.4, 9.5, 5.5 lines, respectively, each followed by a
short right-justified title (units T1,T2,T3,T4).
Paragraphs 2 and 3 begin with big "weirdo" doodles, very unlike
normal Voynichese letters. The first (EVA &252) looks like a
capital K lying on it side, with the vertical bar at the bottom.
The second (EVA &253) looks like the first, with an extra
squiggly line rising from between the two "horns". The two symbols
are drawn or painted with flaring strokes ending in swallowtail
serifs.
There is an inch-wide stain along the right margin, running from
the top to the bottom. About the upper right corner, Rene
reports [4 Apr 1999]: "The '2' with underscore near the top right
is written in the same ink as the two doodles ... at the start of
para's 2 and 3. Next to that is what looks like a '9' but which
really is the letter 'a' with a 'b' beneath it. These are not part
of the erased alphabet lists below it. They are in lighter red.
... It's not the same red as the '2' left of the 'a' [or] the two
doodles".
Within the right marging area there seem to be three columns of
letters ("key like sequences", unit L) which are barely visible
in the reproductions. Jim Reeds writes [15 Jul 1994]: "The
leftmost [column] is the ordinary alphabet, lower case italic
hand, a through z. I 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
frags of Voynich letters. I could make out EVA <d> next to a, <r>
next to c, <g> next to y, and one of the gallows letters somewhere
near the q, r, s range. [...] The 3d column seems to be 1 off from
the first: italic miniscules, r next to s, and so on. More is
visible in UV shots than Petersen shows."
Rene adds [04 Apr 1994]: "Next to 'a' is EVA <d>. Next to 'c' is
<r>. <y> is below 'h'. Of the roman alphabet, one can see a-f,
h, o-r, u-v and z (more like zeta). Of the shifted alphabet two
columns to the right I could only see 'p' and 'q' (aligned with
'o' and 'p' respectively)."
There seems to be faint unreadable text at the top of the page,
apparently in cursive handwriting.
There are some faint scribbles in the bottom margin. More details
are visible in the photographic copies made by Voynich.
UV photos show it to be "Jacobj a Tepenece" [3]. Rene
reports [4 Apr 1999]: "Below the Tepenec signature are a 'W' (left
margin) and what looks like two 7's below 'en' (of 'Tepenece').
These do not show up on the [UV-]illuminated images."
Comments
The page layout suggests four quotes with attributions, or signed
endorsements. Denis Mardle [10 Feb 97] suggested they may describe
the four parts of the book. Rayman Malekei [20 Nov 1997] thinks
that the paragraphs were added at different times.
The faint scribbling at the top may be a stain.
The signature in the bottom margin was identified by Voynich as
that of Jacobus de Tepenecz, as reported by Mary D'Imperio.
Gabriel [18 Sep 1997] suggests that the signature may have
been written with invisible ink.
Brumbaugh reportedly claims that there was a date in the upper
right corner of f1r before it was obliterated by the application
of chemicals (intended to reveal faded writing).
Rene adds [04 Apr 1999], about the red 'a' and 'b' above the two
columns: "I wonder if these are from the original writer."
The EVA <r> claimed to be next to "c" in the right margin is
rather misshapen. Also the synchronization of the three columns
seems rather imperfect.
D'Imperio says that the "weirdo" characters EVA &252/&253 are in
bright red ink; confirmed by Glen Claston [20 Feb 1998] and Jim
Reeds [03 Mar 1998].
Rene [28 Jul 1997] found a medieval astrological diagram [1], in
Greek, where the weirdo EVA &252 is used as a symbol for Aries,
which is "kruos" or "kryos" in Greek. He conjectures that EVA &253
may be a variation of the same. But he cautions that the author
may have just borrowed the symbol for its looks.
The top weirdo &252 has a peculiar beak at the left side of the
base. Could there be some text under the red paint?
Stolfi suggested [07 Aug 1998] that the symbols may be
abbreviations for "Koenig" and "KoenigiN" --- i.e. "K" and
"K"-with-squiggle. (How desperate can you get?)
References
[1] Codex Taurinensis C VII 15 (author anonymous, no date avaliable).
http://www.ficom.net/members/ditch/secret.htm
[2] John Grove
http://members.tripod.com/~VoynichMs/Prefix.htm
[3] Catalog entry for MS 408.
Beinecke Library, Yale.
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