09-11-2025, 06:41 AM
Versions of the history have been changing as more information surfaced.
This has happened continually, yet slowly, over the last 10+ years.
Older versions of this history are no longer valid - quoting such older versions will just confuse.
There is nothing suspicious about the fact that this changed.
The whole acquisition of books by Voynich was a mystery because this had to be kept secret. Evidence has been destroyed. Voynich did not say anything, except to his wife, who also did not say anything during her lifetime (and only knew a small part). Villa Mondragone was false information that has led people in the wrong direction ever since Kraus mentioned it in the early 60's.
From the first time I got in contact with researchers of the Society of Jesus, they have been telling me that Villa Mondragone could not have had anything to do with it. No evidence though.
Just to add the briefest summary of the actual state of knowledge, for people who do not want to read the whole story:
Books from the Roman College were transported to a villa in Castelgandolfo. This was a secret that the Jesuits had to keep from the government. This included the Kircher correspondence. At least by 1912, the set was split into two parts and described in two different (summary) catalogues.
One catalogue listed historical material of the Jesuits themselves, among which the Kircher correspondence. The other catalogue listed books that they agreed to sell because they needed money. Voynich got a small part of that. Yet this was 'hot' merchandise.
There is no evidence that Voynich ever visited the villa in Castelgandolfo.
That is not an empty statement. Visitors were recorded in a visitors' log, which still exists. Strickland's name appears in it several times (his base was Mondragone). So does Ehrle from the Vatican library, when he came secretly to estimate the books' value, and Tacchi Venturi who came with him, and on other occasions. There are occasional researchers' names, such as Xavier de Bachelet S.J. who researched materials of Bellarmino (in the unsellable part).
As soon as information would leak, that the Jesuits were hiding materials that were subject to confiscation, it would all be taken away from them.
The only suggestion that Voynich ever inspected any Jesuit books, are his own words in his 1921 paper. That is part of his cover story (lie) that he discovered this collection in some forgotten trunks. In reality, they were in a hidden and guarded location.
This has happened continually, yet slowly, over the last 10+ years.
Older versions of this history are no longer valid - quoting such older versions will just confuse.
There is nothing suspicious about the fact that this changed.
The whole acquisition of books by Voynich was a mystery because this had to be kept secret. Evidence has been destroyed. Voynich did not say anything, except to his wife, who also did not say anything during her lifetime (and only knew a small part). Villa Mondragone was false information that has led people in the wrong direction ever since Kraus mentioned it in the early 60's.
From the first time I got in contact with researchers of the Society of Jesus, they have been telling me that Villa Mondragone could not have had anything to do with it. No evidence though.
Just to add the briefest summary of the actual state of knowledge, for people who do not want to read the whole story:
Books from the Roman College were transported to a villa in Castelgandolfo. This was a secret that the Jesuits had to keep from the government. This included the Kircher correspondence. At least by 1912, the set was split into two parts and described in two different (summary) catalogues.
One catalogue listed historical material of the Jesuits themselves, among which the Kircher correspondence. The other catalogue listed books that they agreed to sell because they needed money. Voynich got a small part of that. Yet this was 'hot' merchandise.
There is no evidence that Voynich ever visited the villa in Castelgandolfo.
That is not an empty statement. Visitors were recorded in a visitors' log, which still exists. Strickland's name appears in it several times (his base was Mondragone). So does Ehrle from the Vatican library, when he came secretly to estimate the books' value, and Tacchi Venturi who came with him, and on other occasions. There are occasional researchers' names, such as Xavier de Bachelet S.J. who researched materials of Bellarmino (in the unsellable part).
As soon as information would leak, that the Jesuits were hiding materials that were subject to confiscation, it would all be taken away from them.
The only suggestion that Voynich ever inspected any Jesuit books, are his own words in his 1921 paper. That is part of his cover story (lie) that he discovered this collection in some forgotten trunks. In reality, they were in a hidden and guarded location.