27-08-2023, 08:33 PM
Thanks for the write-up! The diagram you added at the end helps a lot imo.
Just before reading your article I was trying to find out where this "Villa Torlonia" is. A simple google maps search immediately led me to the one in Frascati, which seems to be quite a tourist attraction: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
So maybe ELV just assumed it was this famous Villa Torlonia when her husband told her that he acquired the MSS at a 'Villa Torlonia', not the more obscure Torloni-owned villa in Castelgandolfo... this alone would explain her mentioning Frascati, wouldn't it?
Villa Mondragone is ~2km down the road from this Villa Torlonia and was known as Jesuit residence (was it?), so maybe later historians just assumed that this had to be ELVs "castle in Frascati"... but this is again just conjecture.
Another thing I was wondering about: Could you give a rough estimate how many items APUG 3225 and APUG 3289 each contained? Is there any remote chance to track down most of its contents to find out what else got sold through Voynichs hands?
Edit: I just found the beautiful compilation over at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. which totally answers this question.
And another interesting question ofc would be if any of the (documented) Jesuit sales contained a few dozen empty vellum pages... just to further disprove that 'old vellum means old text'.
Just before reading your article I was trying to find out where this "Villa Torlonia" is. A simple google maps search immediately led me to the one in Frascati, which seems to be quite a tourist attraction: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
So maybe ELV just assumed it was this famous Villa Torlonia when her husband told her that he acquired the MSS at a 'Villa Torlonia', not the more obscure Torloni-owned villa in Castelgandolfo... this alone would explain her mentioning Frascati, wouldn't it?
Villa Mondragone is ~2km down the road from this Villa Torlonia and was known as Jesuit residence (was it?), so maybe later historians just assumed that this had to be ELVs "castle in Frascati"... but this is again just conjecture.
Another thing I was wondering about: Could you give a rough estimate how many items APUG 3225 and APUG 3289 each contained? Is there any remote chance to track down most of its contents to find out what else got sold through Voynichs hands?
Edit: I just found the beautiful compilation over at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. which totally answers this question.
And another interesting question ofc would be if any of the (documented) Jesuit sales contained a few dozen empty vellum pages... just to further disprove that 'old vellum means old text'.