The Book Switch Theory

[Jorge_Stolfi]

What strikes me about the diagram is, that the boxes are green and yellow, but there are no boxes in red, which would mean: "there is no evidence supporting this statement", or purple, which would mean: "there is evidence contradicting this statement".

These colours would be needed if one were to add the following events:

"Voynich added a fake signature to the first page of the MS"

"Voynich knew who was Jacobus de Tepenec before 1920"

"Voynich knew what Jacobus' signature looked like, before 1920"

Indeed there is no direct evidence for those claims.  But I think that those things deserve a modest amount of probability because:

• Wilfrid could have easily done them, and had a strong motivation to do so;
  
• His handling of Marci's letter and his insistence on Bacon's origin suggest dishonesty;
  
• AFAIK the SPT gives is no convincing explanation for how he came to that deal with the Jesuits.
  
• Key evidence for the SPT that should have existed is strangely missing.
  

The latter item includes the lack of any clear record of the sale of MS 408 to Wilfrid by the Jesuits, specifically.  If that "unidentified manuscript" on the list of books was indeed MS 408, why was it included in the sale, why was that entry so vague,and why wasn't Marci's letter mentioned in it?  

In fact, is there any evidence that MS 408 was ever in possession of the Jesuits?

There are several other suspicious gaps, but I don't want to repeat myself here.

And, by the way, what about my interpretation that those two "wax stains" on the inside front cover (f0v) are not stains, but two air bubbles that developed under that white paper sheet, and were shaved off during the recent rebinding, leaving two holes?  

And about my understanding that the lining paper where Marci's letter would have been attached to was removed after Wilfrid got the book?

All the best, --stolfi