The world’s most mysterious book

Deep inside Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library lies a 240-page tome. Recently carbon dated to around 1420, its pages feature looping handwriting and hand-drawn images seemingly stolen from a dream. It is called the Voynich manuscript, and it’s one of history’s biggest unsolved mysteries. The reason why? No one can figure out what it says. Stephen Bax investigates this cryptic work.