The Voynich Ninja

How could I have overlooked it?

Today (4 January 2021) is National Trivia Day in the US (no joke).
So let's have some Voynich trivia here.

Good idea, René, sounds like fun! 

As a living Voynich encyclopedia, do you have a good example to get us started?

Indeed, and for the (first) one I had in mind I had to dig quite a bit...

Voynich's first name is Wilfrid, from the moment of his naturalisation in 1904 that made him a UK citizen
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In literature, his name is also occasionally given as Wilfred, and as far as I can tell this goes back to a book by Poundstone, which is not bad, and has made a lot of people aware of Voynich and his Manuscript.

Interestingly, there is an international database that defines how people's names should be written, which is considered authoritative by many institutes: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .
In this he is called "Wilfred".

I contacted them to try to fix this, but to no avail.

I was going to pinch some trivia from this Voynich trivia website, but thought the plagiarism might be obvious  
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I was intrigued to see that the MS is actually smaller than most people think it is


(Actually some bloke who takes photos of things in miniature )

The Voynich Miniscript

So, interestingly, Ethel was already calling herself "Voynich" before they wed, when Wilfrid was still spelling his name "Wojnicz". On the first name thing, he was using Wilfrid when they wed in 1902, before his naturalisation. In both cases it's important to note that English law allows you to change your name just by using a new one.

I suppose "Wilfred" stuck because native English speakers wouldn't hear the difference between "Wilfrid" and "Wilfred" (unless it was over-pronounced).

Even though Trivia Day was yesterday...

One of Voynich's book shops was in Florence. I learned about its location from the research of Rich Santacoloma. When I saw where it was, I realised that I had stood in front of it just a few years earlier, and paused to take a picture of the street, with the building in view. At the time I did not even know Voynich had a book store in Florence.

Not long after that, I found out that Voynich's main book shop in London, at Shaftesbury's Avenue, is now a Chinese restaurant. Nick Pelling had figured that out before, and in fact I learned from him that he had eaten there a few times without knowing it was the location of Voynich's earlier book store.

These are facts, and they are probably just odd coincidences.

Now comes the speculation.
The first time I met Nick was in Frascati, at a small square in front of a hotel / ice cream parlour where we were part of a group having a first get together before the Mondragone conference. This group included also Rich, Klaus Schmeh, Rafal Prinke and Philip Neal, among others.
I have strong reasons to believe that the Voynich MS was not kept in Villa Mondragone, but in another place in or near Frascati. One candidate is a building that is immediately adjacent to the square where the whole group of us met.
Coincidence?

(05-01-2021, 10:21 PM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I have strong reasons to believe that the Voynich MS was not kept in Villa Mondragone, but in another place in or near Frascati.

Is there more you can tell about this, Rene? I don't know much about this part of VM history, but it sounds intriguing.

(05-01-2021, 10:24 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Is there more you can tell about this, Rene?

It's a long story, and Corona prevented me from finding out more in 2020. This year will be my next chance.
Some details related to this can be found towards the end of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .

Summary:
- the most likely storage place was the Villa Torlonia in Castelgandolfo, but Voynich would most definitely not have been allowed to enter it
- there is no independent evidence that any Jesuit book collection was ever stored in Villa Mondragone
- the library of the Duke Henry Benedict Stuart in Frascati is a long shot and there is indeed also no evidence for it. However, it would be a charming coincidence.

One bit of trivia that stuck with me (from one of the Yale essays) is that at one point in his early life, after being arrested for political reasons, Wilfrid Voynich was exiled to Siberia for five years, "an experience he afterward referred to as his "second university course" because of the time it allowed for private study."

Also, is it officially Wilfrid, or Wilfred? Because I noticed that Voynich Ninja's welcome message (for guests if you're not signed in) says it's Wilfred...   

(04-01-2021, 08:05 PM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
Voynich's first name is Wilfrid