【明報專訊】The Voynich manuscript (《伏尼契手稿》) is one of the world's most mysterious books. It was written in an unrecognisable language or code in the 15th century. It has not been decoded to date. The book is locked away in a vault in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University (耶魯大學拜內克古籍善本圖書館), the US. Siloe, a small publishing house in Spain, has recently bought the rights to make 898 exact replicas of it.

The book was named after a Polish (波蘭裔的) rare books dealer called Wilfrid Voynich (伏尼契), who bought it from monks in Italy in 1912. It is full of mysterious and elegant writings and drawings. Even the best cryptographers have failed to reveal the book's content. The book is even featured in an Indiana Jones (《奪寶奇兵》) novel. In it Indiana Jones decodes the manuscript and uses it to find the "Philosopher's Stone".

Siloe has spent 10 years trying to persuade the library to let it publish copies of the book. The replicas are priced between 7,000 and 8,000 euros (between HK＄61,000 and 70,000) each. Nearly 300 people have placed their pre-orders.

(sources: Ming Pao, The Guardian, The Telegraph)

■ Photo Story

The replicas of the manuscript, with every detail the same as that in the original, including the tears and imperfections of each of its pages.

The book has a mix of unknown writings and drawings including strange plants.

■ English highway﹕ Imperfection (n)

Something that is not perfect.

e.g. As we grow up, we begin to notice little imperfections in ourselves and the others.

■ Quiz

Answer the following questions.

(answers on next text)

1.Where is the original Voynich manuscript kept?

a. in Wilfrid Voynich's home

b. in a vault at a library of Yale University

c. in a small publishing house called Siloe in Spain

d. unknown

2. Is the following sentence true or false?

No one knows what the Voynich manuscript is about.

True / False

3. Find a word in paragraph three to fill in the blank.

Pat tried very hard to ________ her mother to allow her to go to a party.

4. In the Indiana Jones novel, what does Indiana do after he decodes the Voynich manuscript?

■ Glossary

unrecognisable (adj) 不可識別的

decode (v) 破譯

replica (n) 複製品

cryptographer (n) 密碼專家