The Voynich Manuscript： History’s Most Mysterious Book Explained The Voynich Manuscript is a handwritten, illustrated codex carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438), probably created in northern Italy during the Renaissance. Named after Wilfrid Voynich, the Polish book dealer who acquired it in 1912, the 240-page vellum book remains completely undeciphered and is widely regarded as the world’s most enigmatic text. Written in an unknown script (“Voynichese”) using 20–30 unique character