10-11-2025, 12:51 AM
While we do not have records for every single step in how Voynich obtained the MS and the Marci letter, this alternative scenario creates an additional list of unexplained steps. Some of them are not only unexplained, but either unlikely or contradicted by other evidence.
Also, it is one thing to consider that Voynich lied about the provenance of some of his books (for good reasons, as we know), planting a fake signature in a genuine book is quite a different step. The question of course has to be: "why?"
It would also have required him to:
- know who was Jacobus de Tepenec
- know how he numbered his books
There is no evidence that he did.
I am not sure if you are aware that there are photos of the first page before Voynich's chemical treatment and after.
The alternative scenario does not explain how and where Voynich acquired the Marci letter. We know it was never included in the carteggio, because each volume has an index listing all letters.
(I am also quite sceptical that this letter presented huge monetary value, but we can leave that aside).
It also does not explain where he got the Voynich MS.
Many things that are easily explained in the normal scenario now become minor or major coincidences.
- He obtained the MS and the other books from the Jesuits in the same year
- The cover of the MS matches the covers of the other books he acquired from the Jesuits, and the books that the Vatican acquired. (This is not hard proof, but it is just one of several things that now become a coincidence, and the regular story has to be preferred).
- The remarkable match between Barschius' description and the Voynich MS now becomes a huge coincidence. (Again, this is not just another 'complete works of Cicero', but a highly unusual book).
- The entry in the Jesuits' catalogue of books sold to the Vatican, which Ruysschaert matched with the Voynich MS, now becomes a loose end. Not impossible, but:
+ it is the only one in the entire list without author or title (check)
+ it is listed as from the 15th century (check)
+ it is listed as being on parchment
None of this is proof, but the probability that all these things match by coincidence has to be be considered very small.
All of this becomes unnecessary when we accept that Voynich bought the MS from the Jesuits with the Marci letter inside. This 'regular' version has to be highly preferred over the alternative one, by an enormous margin.
Also, it is one thing to consider that Voynich lied about the provenance of some of his books (for good reasons, as we know), planting a fake signature in a genuine book is quite a different step. The question of course has to be: "why?"
It would also have required him to:
- know who was Jacobus de Tepenec
- know how he numbered his books
There is no evidence that he did.
I am not sure if you are aware that there are photos of the first page before Voynich's chemical treatment and after.
The alternative scenario does not explain how and where Voynich acquired the Marci letter. We know it was never included in the carteggio, because each volume has an index listing all letters.
(I am also quite sceptical that this letter presented huge monetary value, but we can leave that aside).
It also does not explain where he got the Voynich MS.
Many things that are easily explained in the normal scenario now become minor or major coincidences.
- He obtained the MS and the other books from the Jesuits in the same year
- The cover of the MS matches the covers of the other books he acquired from the Jesuits, and the books that the Vatican acquired. (This is not hard proof, but it is just one of several things that now become a coincidence, and the regular story has to be preferred).
- The remarkable match between Barschius' description and the Voynich MS now becomes a huge coincidence. (Again, this is not just another 'complete works of Cicero', but a highly unusual book).
- The entry in the Jesuits' catalogue of books sold to the Vatican, which Ruysschaert matched with the Voynich MS, now becomes a loose end. Not impossible, but:
+ it is the only one in the entire list without author or title (check)
+ it is listed as from the 15th century (check)
+ it is listed as being on parchment
None of this is proof, but the probability that all these things match by coincidence has to be be considered very small.
All of this becomes unnecessary when we accept that Voynich bought the MS from the Jesuits with the Marci letter inside. This 'regular' version has to be highly preferred over the alternative one, by an enormous margin.