Voynich said so many things about the Voynich Manuscript that some began to suspect that he wrote it himself. And it could be possible.
- Voynich seemed to discover an unusual number of previously-unknown manuscripts during his time. This made many suspect that he had forged, or written, some of them.
- According to the BBC, he also bought a large amount of vellum, the parchment material that the Voynich Manuscript was written on.
- It is also said that Voynich learned how to re-create medieval inks at the University of Moscow. In addition, library tickets from the British Museum Library showed that one of his friends had looked at a book titled Some Observations On Ancient Inks. This was the perfect reading material for someone who was planning to create an ancient manuscript from scratch.
- To date, the vellum of the Voynich Manuscript has been confirmed to be from the 15th century. Unfortunately, the ink cannot be tested the same way, as it could damage the manuscript.
What evidence is there, then, that Voynich did not write the Manuscript himself? Perhaps answers can be found in the language. In 2021, a paper from Yale University analysed the structure of the language in the Voynich Manuscript. The paper suggested that it showed signs of being a real, natural language. This would mean that it was not secretly created by forgers.
But we do not know for sure.
Sources: Annual Reviews, BBC, Guardian, Hyde & Rugg, Smithsonian