2 for 1! An introduction and a mysterious old book.

Ha, I got it, finally!!! It's a biography of Grigori Alexandru Gika, a Moldovan prince.

reply to post by heyitsok


Mind sharing how you got to that conclusion?

Originally posted by Gemwolf
reply to post by heyitsok

 

Mind sharing how you got to that conclusion?

Yeah, I'd be interested to hear too!

It says so on the title page.

Orologiu

Tipurit in zilele prea Hanal Satului
(Copy in modern Hanal Satului)

Nostru Dama
(Our Ruler)
Grigorie Alexandru
Gika Voievod
(Prince Grigori Alexandru Gika)

Don't know what I liked best about this thread...the introduction or the book, it's a tough call as both are awesome.

It's an intriguing item for sure, kinda bummed you seem to have figured it out...be cool to have another voynich-esque type mystery...would have been even cooler if this book was the key to unlocking the voynich, imagine that? I'm dreaming, I know - but it's a nice dream,,,

Anyways, nice intro and nice book...worth a flag.

I was going to say, it looks like an early form of Cyrillic to me. Could be Macedonian/Old Church Slavonic. I can make out a few words.

reply to post by anon29


Welcome to the site, first off. Second, interesting book!

I would recommend taking those pics (not the book) to some language scholars, and see if they can interpret them. It looks like some old sort of writing, and the picture looks maybe Biblical. Perhaps some old Hebrew? Just guessing there. Very possible this is a rare old book, though. If no family knows, I would try and get some expert opinions, but f someone wants to buy, WAIT. Chances are, it would be worth more than they would say. If it's an heirloom, you would probably not want to sell, in any case. Would highly recommend keeping it safe and dry, and handling as little as possible, wearing light cloth gloves, to keep skin oils off. If it is really old, it's really fragile, too.

reply to post by anon29


Hi,

the Book is a religious eastern orthodox text, known as a 'Book of Days', or greek 'Horologion' or slavic 'Chasoslov'. These latter 2 terms are listed at the top of the opening page. This particular version is Romanian from mid-19th century, as seen by the name Grigore Alexandru Ghica who was the Moldavian prince at the time. Up to the mid-19th century, the Romanian alphabet was cyrillic, which is what you see here.

That's pretty much all I can discern from the photos.

And regards to the good folk at the macedonian truth forum who made me aware of this thread.

Cheers.