Now’s your chance

Yale University Press

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Scholars and code-breakers have tried unsuccessfully for decades to decipher the Beinecke Library’s Voynich Manuscript (above). Want to give it a shot? In November, Yale University Press released a facsimile edition (below) of the 234-page medieval manuscript, complete with the elaborate foldouts, mysterious symbols, and enigmatic illustrations of the original. Images of the manuscript, which is written in an unknown language, have been available on the Beinecke’s website for several years. But curator Raymond Clemens says it’s not the same as experiencing it physically. “We’re hoping the facsimile will give people a sense of the size of the book and the way its structures fit together,” says Clemens. “This will be the next best thing to actually sitting down with the manuscript at the library.”