The Friar and the Cipher (28 page)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

•   •   •

NAVIGATING THE LABYRINTH
of material surrounding the Voynich manuscript was a formidable task. We are indebted to Stephen Jones, John Monahan, and Christa Sammons at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale for answering questions, supplying technical assistance and photographs, and allowing us access to the manuscript itself. On the code side, our perspective was enlarged by Dr. James Reeds, who was unfailingly generous in his willingness to supply explanations of some of the more arcane facets of the decryption efforts. Rafal Prinke and René Zandbergen were also very helpful, as was David Kahn, who helped point us in the right direction. The public affairs office at the National Security Agency was (to our surprise) very willing to help, although in the spirit of the agency we are not going to mention anyone by name.

Oxford and the Bodleian Library were obviously very important stops on our journey, and we are indebted to Ross King for arranging for us to be allowed access to John Dee's legacy. When we got to Duke Humfrey's Library, all the materials we had requested were waiting for us thanks to Martin Kauffmann. We would not have both been able to study the manuscripts if Sara Langdon, a secretary at the admissions office, had not been so generous as to watch our daughter for us and even take her out to tea.

On the home front, Rachel Rice at the Westport Public Library was extraordinarily helpful and good-natured in her efforts to supply us with the multitude of interlibrary loan books we requested as background. At Doubleday, Gerry Howard supplied his usual insight, wit, and enthusiasm to the editing process, which helped us to improve the book immeasurably, Rakesh Satyal always responded immediately to any request we might have, and Alison Ker Miller did a super job copyediting. As always, our daughter, Emily, inspired and reassured us, which must have been difficult, as we were often the ones acting like children.

Our agent, Jed Mattes, died of pancreatic cancer in July 2003. This book would not have been possible without him. Jed was that most extraordinary of men who could operate on an exalted plane both personally and professionally. We miss him terribly. His partner, Fred Morris, held the agency together with grace and strength during Jed's illness and beyond, and we are indebted to him for the support he gave us during an extremely trying time.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

LAWRENCE AND NANCY GOLDSTONE
are a husband-and-wife writing team and authors of
Out of the Flames
, a BookSense 76 Selection. They have also written three books on their book-collecting pursuits:
Used and Rare, Slightly Chipped
, and
Warmly Inscribed
.

ALSO BY LAWRENCE AND NANCY GOLDSTONE

Out of the Flames: The Remarkable Story of a Fearless Scholar, a Fatal Heresy, and One of the Rarest Books in the World

Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World

Slightly Chipped: Footnotes in Booklore

Warmly Inscribed: The New England Forger and Other Book Tales

ALSO BY LAWRENCE GOLDSTONE

Rights

Off-Line

ALSO BY NANCY GOLDSTONE

Trading Up: Surviving Success as a Woman Trader on Wall Street

Bad Business

Mommy and the Murder

Mommy and the Money

PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY
a division of Random House, Inc.

DOUBLEDAY
and the portrayal of an anchor with a dolphin are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Goldstone, Lawrence, 1947–
The friar and the cipher: Roger Bacon and the unsolved mystery of the most unusual manuscript in the world / Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Voynich manuscript. I. Goldstone, Nancy Bazelon. II. Title.
Z105.5.V65G65 2004
091—dc22        2004050164

Copyright © 2005 Lawrence Goldstone and Nancy Goldstone

All Rights Reserved

eISBN: 978-0-385-51515-3

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