Topsham, ME Author Publishes Book on a Controversial Historical Manuscript

Golden Fleece: The Voynich Manuscript and British Intelligence, 1890-1960, a new book by Robert C. Williams, has been released by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.

The Voynich Manuscript resides in a library at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. No one can read the manuscript, break its cipher, or identify its provenance. Nothing like it exists. No one mentions it until 1912. Why?

Golden Fleece tells the story of London antiques dealer Wilfred Voynich, his relations with British intelligence, and the provenance of his 1912 cipher. In this book, author Robert C. Williams posits that Voynich's manuscript was not an early modern find but a modern creation by Voynich himself and others using materials acquired from an antiques warehouse in Florence, Italy. The tale of Voynich and his manuscript suggests a modern hoax comparable to Piltdown Man that combines history, espionage, revolution, and cryptography.

About the Author
Robert C. Williams is a retired Russian historian who has taught history at Williams and Davidson College and Washington University in St. Louis. He has also served on the boards of Agnes Scott College and Wesleyan University and is a co-founder of History Associates Incorporated. He has a special interest in choral and barbershop singing and his family camp on Kezar Lake in Maine. He and his wife Ann married in 1960 and have three children and four grandchildren.

Robert C. Williams is the author or co-author of eighteen books, one of which, Russian Art and American Money, 1900-1940, was nominated by Harvard University Press for the Pulitzer Prize.

Golden Fleece: The Voynich Manuscript and British Intelligence, 1890-1960 is a 246-page paperback with a retail price of $61.00 (eBook $56.00). The ISBN is 979-8-89127-904-9. It was published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For members of the press, to request a review copy or author interview, please visit https://bookstore.dorrancepublishing.com/pages/media-requests or to buy the book, visit our online bookstore at https://bookstore.dorrancepublishing.com/products/golden-fleece-the-voynich-manuscript-and-british-intelligence-1890-1960