01-02-2026, 02:26 PM
Rene, just to be clear: I do not believe that Wilfrid forged MS408 or Marci's letter, and I do think that the Standard Provenance story is the most likely one. But still:
Indeed Wilfrid's lies do not imply that. But they mean that we cannot trust any of his statements.
We know a possible motive, which was to prevent the Italian government from knowing of the existence of that pile of books, which they might confiscate. But didn't that motive cease to exist in 1929? Was that the real motive, or just a convenient excuse for the lies?
I suspect that the real motive for the lies was, at a minimum, to prevent the Vatican from finding that the Jesuits had sold ~30 books from the Kircher and other libraries to an American book dealer. Strickland and the other custodians of those books could have been metaphorically burned at the stake if other factions of the Church, adversaries of the Jesuits, had found about the sale.
And that sale was almost certainly just a cover for the sale of what Wilfrid believed to be a Bacon Original worth millions of dollars. If MS408 was one of those ~30 books, it must have been that one which had no description (BookX). This fact alone should get all alarm bells ringing.
Why? Even if there was nothing wrong with that sale, and BookX was indeed the one sent by Marci to Kircher (BookA), there is no real evidence that BookX was MS 408. It seems quite possible that Wilfrid was disappointed when he saw BookX, because it turned out to be just a 16th century manual of camel husbandry in Tiffinagh. But he still had Marci's letter, so he could still use it to sell a "Bacon Original" to some dumb banker ... if he somehow got another manuscript -- genuine or fake -- that loosely matched its description in the Kircher Carteggio.
All the best, --stolfi
(01-02-2026, 12:19 AM)ReneZ wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Saying that Voynich hiding the place where he got the manuscript, suggests that the MS is likely to be a fake by him, is a classical example of a 'non sequitor'. This is when a conclusion does not follow from the argument presented.
Indeed Wilfrid's lies do not imply that. But they mean that we cannot trust any of his statements.
Quote:What is more: we even know exactly why he lied about this, both from his own words and from other documented and independent sources.
We know a possible motive, which was to prevent the Italian government from knowing of the existence of that pile of books, which they might confiscate. But didn't that motive cease to exist in 1929? Was that the real motive, or just a convenient excuse for the lies?
I suspect that the real motive for the lies was, at a minimum, to prevent the Vatican from finding that the Jesuits had sold ~30 books from the Kircher and other libraries to an American book dealer. Strickland and the other custodians of those books could have been metaphorically burned at the stake if other factions of the Church, adversaries of the Jesuits, had found about the sale.
And that sale was almost certainly just a cover for the sale of what Wilfrid believed to be a Bacon Original worth millions of dollars. If MS408 was one of those ~30 books, it must have been that one which had no description (BookX). This fact alone should get all alarm bells ringing.
Quote:[The sale of ~30 genuine books] is bit of a killer for Voynich's possible motive to create a fake.
Why? Even if there was nothing wrong with that sale, and BookX was indeed the one sent by Marci to Kircher (BookA), there is no real evidence that BookX was MS 408. It seems quite possible that Wilfrid was disappointed when he saw BookX, because it turned out to be just a 16th century manual of camel husbandry in Tiffinagh. But he still had Marci's letter, so he could still use it to sell a "Bacon Original" to some dumb banker ... if he somehow got another manuscript -- genuine or fake -- that loosely matched its description in the Kircher Carteggio.
All the best, --stolfi