New Post: "I Do Listen to the Experts. Do YOU?"

[proto57]

It is ironic to me, when being told that I "don't listen to the experts", that I actually listen to far more of them than virtually anyone else... well, anyone without a forgery theory. 

You don't listen to the people you list as experts as they don't say the manuscript is a modern fake. To go from saying there was uncertainty about the dating of the manuscript to saying it is a modern hoax is a big jump. Rather one might say that the dating of a manuscript like the Voynich, where one cannot read the text, is very difficult and so many people came up with different dates for it. The carbon dating has been very helpful in clearing up the dating issue.

It goes like this:

1) Yes, I do listen to the vast majority of the experts in that I agree that the content they observe(d) and identify in the Voynich is (mostly) all there: The wide range of plants, art styles, writing styles, lettering content, artistic techniques, clothing, and so on. Most of it contradictory with each other, as it covers an impossible range of geography, ages, influences, and so on.

I don't feel it is a "big jump", for one thing, to note that this wide range of content, geography and ages can best be explained by it being a modern forgery. But also, it is not a "jump" at all, as there are a great many other (what I consider) elements of supporting evidence for my hypothesis, other than this disparity of expert opinions. Yes, that is a piece of the hypothesis, but there is much more than that, which "happen to" coincide with this expert opinion bugaboo.

2) True, the experts didn't, to my knowledge, state this was a possible modern fake. But, also, they were not queried, for the most part, as to whether or not they thought the Voynich was/is a modern fake in the first place. Also, forgery was not, to my understanding, a major element to any of their scholarship or experience. I've read a good 15 plus books on the history, examples, perpetrators, motivations and detection of forgeries throughout history, and I can tell you that there is a very unfortunate chasm between literary scholarship and the world of the forger. There are a great many cases in which forgeries have been long considered genuine, by expert opinion, which later turned out to be forgeries... when examined by those practiced in the art. It is a fascinating and eye-opening subject, one which I recommend to everyone.

3) I disagree that the C14 cleared up the dating issue, as you say, but that it did just the opposite, for the reasons I've stated, i.e., the overwhelming number expert opinions did not match the eventual C14. That raises questions, unless we discount those opinions. But that's dead horse territory now, I've stated my opinion on this several times.

So I separate the concepts of expert observation from detection of forgery. They are not always, actually often, from different worlds of scholarship. Personally, I don't think they should be. I think it both should be enmeshed, and the art collections and museums of the world would be far more accurate and honest, if not far more sparse than today. FYI, here is my Forgery Bibliography, which I compiled for the Voynich Net Forum:

Books about Forgery:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Otto Kurz, Faber & Faber, 1948, Dover Publications, 1967, ISBN: 0-486-21871-6

If no other book on forgery is on your shelf, this classic is the one you should have.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Thomas Hoving, 1996 (Simon & Schuster), ISBN: 0-684-81134-0

Hoving wrote in a more popular, personal style. He repeats many of the findings of Kurz, with updates, along with many of his own finds and the anecdotes about them.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Kelker & Bruhns, Routledge 2009, ISBN-10: 1598741497

Read this book, and you will never look at a (supposedly) genuine work in the same way, again. My favorite quote from the book,

"Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to find professionals--- art historians, museum curators, and even well-known archaeologists--- championing these fake works. Some of these erstwhile defenders suffer from the "missing link of history" syndrome, in which the most glaring errors of a forgery are dimsissed in the desire to see a fraudulent work as a legitimate copy of some now-lost, previously unknown, ancient manuscript. The discovery of said manuscript--- or at least  its ever so faithful copy--- is guaranteed to plug major holes in scholarship as well as rocket its discoverer to fame, fortune, and guest appearances on the Today Show--- or even better, invitations to weekends at well-heeled collectors' country estates. Those suffering from the "missing link" syndrome are perhaps the most dangerous because their misplaced enthusiasm, coupled with their professional reputations, presents the greatest opportunities for the pollution of science to arise."-        Nancy L. Kelker & Karen O. Bruhns, "Faking Mesoamerica"

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., 1991, edited by James Gilreath, American Antiquarian Society, Worchester, Mass.

This book is unique on the subject of the forged Oath of a Freeman, as it contains the interviews of the forger and murderer Hofmann, along with essays by various experts and law enforcement people. This gives a view from the mind of the forger, the methods he used and why, and how that forgery both fooled some experts, and was discovered by others. Spoiler alert: Walter McCrone was fooled, he stated definitively it was genuine.

I also find this one of the better insights into the "process of apology" that often permeates expert opinion: On the one hand, their experience notices problems; on the other, they dismiss those problems, with prejudice. Experts often do the forger's work for them, without even realizing it.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Stephen C. Carlson

One of the more in-depth, detailed, condemnations of a forgery, and the suspected forger behind it.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Frank Arnau, 1961, LOC: 61-5317


You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Kirsten A. Seaver, 2004, 0-8047-4963

A definitive case for the forgery of the Vinland map, along with the identification of the "primer" used, and a suggested culprit.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., John Paul Floyd

From my Amazon review, "Anyone who still contends the Vinland Map may be authentic is strongly advised to read this work, because they will either have their minds changed, or at least, see the impossible task they would have in addressing the problems with continuing holding their position. I do not envy them. I would say... although the author is more modest than to assert this... the case put together here is unassailable, and the verdict of "forgery", undeniable."

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Charles Hamilton, 1980, ISBN: 0-517-540762

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Melissa Katsoulis, 2009

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., by Melissa Katsoulis

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Myers & Harris, eds., 1989

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Mark Monmonier, 1995

Provenance, Salisbury & Sujo, 2009, The Penguin Press, 2009, ISBN-10: 0143117408

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Michael Blanding, Avery, 2014, ISBN-10: 1592409407

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Gary Vikan, Select Books, 2016, ISBN-13: 978-1590793930

A colorful, personal account of Mr. Vikan's years as Museum Director of the Walter's, and the problematic situations and items he encountered.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., William Voelkle, Morgan Library, 1978, ISBN-10: 0875980546

This early book on the Spanish Forger covers several dozen of that artists nefarious works. Since publication, many more have been discovered. This book contains an image of the one forgery we do know that Wilfrid Voynich sold, a "Columbus Miniature". For some time, this work was considered as one of the Spanish Forgers, but Voelkle thinks it is by another hand. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.