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+--- Thread: Voynich buys some Jesuit manuscripts (/thread-2618.html)
Voynich buys some Jesuit manuscripts - ReneZ - 08-01-2019
Voynich's acquisition of the Voynich MS, as part of a larger group of manuscripts, has always been surrounded by mystery, and it is something that has intrigued me for about 20 years now.
It may not be the most popular topic in discussion groups like this, since it will not tell us anything about the meaning of the MS or the meaning of its text.
The recent blog post of Rich (whose family name is actually given incorrectly in the Blogosphere), and especially the ensuing exchange of comments, made me realise how little is know about progress on this particular topic.
The main problem is that Voynich has presented several different versions of the 'story of his discovery'. Quite in general, he is someone whose words have to be treated with extreme care, as he had a strong tendency to exaggerate, to the point of inventing stories that never happened.
However, over the years I have been able to collect a growing body of independent evidence related to this acquisition, and to the time preceding it. In particular, a document preserved in the Vatican archives, which I first saw in May 2015, could clarify most of the mystery.
This document, preserved as Arch.Bibl.109 is a photographic copy of an original that seems to be lost.
It is dated 1903, and it presents a list of manuscripts offered for sale to the Vatican, by the society of Jesus.
Most of these manuscripts were finally incorporated in the Vatican library in 1912, and they are included in a catalogue by Jose Ruysschaert published in 1959. He remarks that some manuscripts that should have been included in this sale are actually missing. He makes a list of them (in footnote in the 1959 catalogue) and indicates that they all seem to have been acquired by W. Voynich.
Indeed, the 1903 catalogue includes essentially all these manuscripts that Voynich acquired.
This means that:
- These manuscripts were never lost. The Jesuits were simply keeping them in hiding, until the time they decided to sell them
- Voynich did not discover them, like he always claimed. Instead, he was invited to buy a number of them, under promise of secrecy.
- The letter by Ethel Voynich, to be opened after her death, appears to be accurate in all details. So at least Voynich seems to have told *her* the truth.
RE: Voynich buys some Jesuit manuscripts - Aldis Mengelsons - 08-01-2019
RE: Voynich buys some Jesuit manuscripts - proto57 - 09-01-2019
RE: Voynich buys some Jesuit manuscripts - ReneZ - 09-01-2019
RE: Voynich buys some Jesuit manuscripts - proto57 - 10-01-2019
RE: Voynich buys some Jesuit manuscripts - ReneZ - 10-01-2019
RE: Voynich buys some Jesuit manuscripts - -JKP- - 10-01-2019
RE: Voynich buys some Jesuit manuscripts - proto57 - 10-01-2019
RE: Voynich buys some Jesuit manuscripts - davidjackson - 12-01-2019
RE: Voynich buys some Jesuit manuscripts - D.N.O'Donovan - 13-01-2019