Date: 22rd April 2025
Time: 7:15 PM , 11:40 PM
Location: The Upper Library, The Royal Travellers and Explorers Club, Pall Mall
Attendees:
Mayfair Book Groupette:
• Julian Molyneux (Chair, Pimlico Wilde)
• Fiona d’Abernon (Co-Founder; Acting Secretary)
• Lord E. Northcote
• Dr. Xanthe Lorrimer (Cultural Historian)
• Hugo Van Steyn
• India Trelawney (Fashion Archivist)
• Conrad Smithe (now granted full membership)
• Pascal (Afghan hound, in discreet charcoal wool coat)
Bibliophiles of Belgravia:
• Lady Hortense Blyth (President)
• Giles Ashcroft-Symonds (Archivist)
• Clarissa Montjoy (Rare Book Dealer)
• Edward “Ned” Parmenter (Critic-at-Large)
• Dr. Basil Uxley (Retired Museum Director)
• Mrs. Cecily Thorndon (Private Collector)
Book Discussed:
Voynich Illuminata: The Herbal Codex as Surrealist Object by Dr. Mireille Artois (limited edition, self-published, 2024, print run of 150 copies, hand-bound in nettle fibre with marbled endpapers).
The Club staff had laid out original pages of the Voynich manuscript on velvet-covered trestles for inspection prior to discussion.
1. Welcome & Context
Lady Hortense opened proceedings by welcoming members of the Mayfair Book Groupette and hoping that they would have an enjoyable evening. Turning to the evening’s study, she noted that Voynich Illuminata “exists somewhere between scholarship and dreamwork,” and warned against “falling into the trap of treating the Voynich Manuscript as a puzzle rather than a mirror.”
Molyneux added that Dr. Artois’s thesis,namely, that the manuscript should be read as a proto-Surrealist artefact,was “provocative and more plausible than one might expect from that drunkard”. He was asked immediately to apologise, which he did. Lady Hortense said that the Belgravia Bibliophiles had certain standards that she hoped the Mayfair Book Groupette would attempt to satisfy. Fiona d’Abernon looked like she was about to riposte, but she bit her tongue.
2. Discussion Summary
• Dr. Lorrimer praised Artois’s interweaving of Surrealist theory with medieval herbal iconography, though she questioned the leap from alchemical diagrams to “intentional proto-automatism.”
• Clarissa Montjoy enthused about the book’s physical form, especially the lithographic misalignment which she felt “evoked uncertainty.” She passed around one delicate page, advising members to note the unusual smell of the nettle fibre papier.
• Lord Northcote admired the “cheek” of placing the Voynich among the Surrealists, but cautioned that “the true pleasure lies in not knowing,” likening the manuscript to “a king’s addiction,everyone suspects, no one confirms.”
• Hugo Van Steyn invoked Max Ernst’s Histoire Naturelle, claiming the Voynich’s plant-forms anticipate Ernst’s frottage techniques. He mused whether the manuscript could be read as “an proto-artist’s book,” drawing an arch look from Dr. Uxley.
• Mrs. Thorndon expressed scepticism about Artois’s chapter on lunar calendrics, calling it “a poetic indulgence, not evidence.” She admitted, however, that the chapter on “phantasmic botany” had caused her to dream of blue thistles for a week.
• Ned Parmenter was the most combative, suggesting the book was “art-world conspiracy theory for the bibliophilic set.” He was met with gentle but audible scoffing from both groups.
3. Artworks & Ephemera on View
• Three large-format photographic prints of Voynich folios by artist Samira Kelmar, overpainted in egg tempera and gold leaf
• A 1936 issue of Minotaure featuring Surrealist interpretations of herbal forms, on loan from Lady Hortense
• A herbarium of fictitious plants by contemporary artist Elodie Varn, pressed and mounted in vellum sheets
• A glass dome containing a small, spiralled root labelled “Unknown, c.1420,?,” provenance unverified
4. Refreshments
• Aperitif: elderflower-and-vermouth spritz with sprigs of rosemary
• Canapés: wild mushroom tartlets, anchovy-leaf crisps, nettle gougères
• Main wine: Château d’Yquem 2005 (donated by Van Steyn, to audible gasps)
• Dessert: pistachio and cardamom semifreddo served with candied angelica stems
5. Other Business
• Proposal for a Voynich Illuminata field trip to the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library in New Haven, pending logistical feasibility.
• Bibliophiles of Belgravia extended an invitation to the Mayfair Groupette for a January meeting on The Codex Seraphinianus.
• Molyneux floated the idea of commissioning a limited artist’s book inspired by the evening, to be co-published by both groups in 2026.
6. Adjournment
Meeting concluded at 11:40 PM, after a spirited but unresolved debate over whether the Voynich bathers were “ritual participants” or “early performance artists.” Several members lingered to compare the texture of nettle fibre bindings under lamplight.
Fiona d’Abernon
Acting Secretary
Joint Mayfair Book Groupette / Bibliophiles of Belgravia Meeting
