The Voynich Ninja

The intent of this thread is to share any information we find about Jesuit Father Joseph Strickland.
My first clipping is from the book Jesuit Survival and Restoration. According to the author Joseph Strickland was appointed to dig into Jesuit archives researching the history of the order during the suppression period 1773-1814 (note; this includes the Napoleonic wars). He dug into the Italian archives for three years between 1895 and 1897. Thus it is possible that father Joseph Strickland had more than average knowledge about what is where in the Italian Jesuit archives.
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Short bio of Joseph Strickland from his obituary posted in The Tablet magazine (International news weekly)
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Photo and info about Joseph Strickland's service as chaplain from Jesuits in Britain web-site. The reason it is relevant is because in places Strickland in the UK in July 1914 (St Ignatius retreats and start of the WWI). He never goes back to Italy after that (he goes to France and then Malta). So whatever dealings he had in Italy - they were before 1914.
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Ellie,
The accounts are a little vague on some points.  It would appear overall that we should conclude that Strickland was still in Italy between 1910 - 1912.  Does that seem right to you?

Thanks Ellie.

There is an online biography of Strickland in Italian, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .  It starts on p. 39.
I made a summary of that, using also some other sources, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .

I add two portraits found among Voynich's papers, courtesy of the Beinecke Library.

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I had transcribed some of the correspondence between Voynich and Strickland, but I realise that it is not at my web site. I should add it. Note that there are clear signs that this is incomplete and any more 'compromising' correspondence would have been deleted (if it existed).

More on Strickland was collected by Xavier Ceccalidi, and is reported  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .

Dana Scott also looked a bit more at his family tree, which included minor nobility on the side of both his parents, IIRC.

(08-10-2016, 09:51 AM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I had transcribed some of the correspondence between Voynich and Strickland, but I realise that it is not at my web site. I should add it. Note that there are clear signs that this is incomplete and any more 'compromising' correspondence would have been deleted (if it existed).

The transcription of the letters from the Strickland brothers has now been added  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .

(08-10-2016, 04:30 AM)Diane Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Ellie,
The accounts are a little vague on some points.  It would appear overall that we should conclude that Strickland was still in Italy between 1910 - 1912.  Does that seem right to you?

Hi Diane. Yes, I agree, that seems right.


Hi Rene, great! Thanks for the links and the photos.

Rene,
Could you add more details on Dana Scott's research please?  Such as when he did that work and/or where one can read it?

Thank you.

Ellie - good, well that seems clear enough. Strickland was indeed in Italy during the years between 1910 (when Wilfrid may have first seen the manuscript) and 1912 when he acquired it. Good to know. Thank you.

Re-reading the page by Xavier Ceccaldi, I may well have mis-remembered and it was not Dana, but Xavier, who looked into Strickland's family tree. Or else, if Dana looked at the same, there was not much more that I can remember.
That part of the archives of the mailing list seems lost.

All the evidence points to Voynich learning about the Jesuit collection that included the Voynich MS in the year 1911.

(08-10-2016, 02:52 PM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.All the evidence points to Voynich learning about the Jesuit collection that included the Voynich MS in the year 1911.

Hi Rene,

I'm getting the impression that Ethel V. came up with the Vatican/Strickland/1912 story based on her research after Voynich's death. Is it possible his promise not to tell anybody extended to his wife?

็Hi Ellie,

the letter by ELV (to be opened after her death) was written only shortly after Voynich died. She clearly states that Wilfrid had to promise secrecy, and that he only told her confidence, as the only person. The letter was specifically intended for Anne Nill, so it is clear that ELV assumed that Nill knew nothing of this.

It is only since June last year, when I visited the Gregorian University in Rome, that it is clear that the letter of ELV is the only version that is consistent with all verifiable facts. The various different versions of the story by Voynich are all demonstrably invented.

Many independent sources confirm the habit of Wilfrid Voynich to invent the most fabulous stories, and that he actually believed them himself. Rafal Prinke's presentation in Villa Mondragone included several examples, and the book about the Booles and the Hintons by Gerry Kennedy You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. has additional evidence for this.

People really interested in this should check my web site (e.g. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. , You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. , You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. , You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. ) . For those primarily interested in the decryption of the text of the MS this is all totally uninteresting.

Strickland remains a bit of a mystery. In the end, we can't be entirely sure that Wilfrid told ELV the whole truth, but he was certainly a contact for Voynich w.r.t. the Jesuits of the Villa Mondragone. Voynich was reputedly also a personal friend of Achille Ratti, prefect of the Vatican Library, and later Pope Pius XI, but the source for this is James Westfall Thompson, of whom Gerry Kennedy demonstrates that he was a bit gullible w.r.t Voynich's stories.

Thanks Rene, that clears it for me.