The Book Switch Theory

[Jorge_Stolfi]

How can it be that we should:

By the way, here is an alternative timeline that does not imply book switch or major forgery, but still I think could better explain some details that the SPT struggles to explain.  I am not saying that this version is more likely, but only that, as long as it is possible, it shows that the SPT is at best very likely, not at all certain.

1. Some time before 1911, Wilfrid learns that the Jesuits have a secret stash of books in Rome that includes several volumes of Kircher's correspondence and many books that once were at the Collegio Romano, including books formerly in Kircher's library.
   
2. Wilfrid learns that, in that stash, there is a letter saying that Marci sent to Kircher a Bacon original.
   
3. And indeed among Kircher's books there is one that seems to fit Marci's letter. Maybe the letter was  attached to it,maybe not.
   
4. Smelling a multimillion dollar business opportunity, Wilfrid does everything he could and could not do to convince the Jesuits to sell him that book. He may have promised them a percentage of the eventual profit.
   
5. The Jesuits eventually agree to the sale.  
   
6. However, at that time the Italian government  still considered those books their property.  Selling any of those books to any party outside the Church would already be a serious crime.  Selling them to a foreigner would make the crime worse. Selling a book worth millions for a few hundred dollars, then, ...
   
7. Moreover, if news of that sale spread inside the Church, the rival orders who hated the Jesuits would surely exploit it .
   
8. Thus the Jesuits demand that Wilfrid must lie about the provenance of the book, placing it as far away from them as possible.  To which Wilfrid promptly agrees.
   
9. For better measure, they agree that the "Bacon" book would be disguised among a lot of 30-some books, and listed with no details, to thwart any eventual audit of that collection.
   
10. However the Jesuits are determined to keep Marci's letter, since (unlike the book) it is part of their history. 
    
11. Wilfrid does not mind about that; what he wanted is the book.
    
12. But when Wilfrid finally gets the book, in 1911, he has a big disappointment: the book is obviously not Bacon's, and would not be worth all the money he already spent because of it.  
    
13. But he sees a chance that he can still convince some rich banker that it s Bacon's. 
    
14. First he removes from the book some pages that clearly refuted that claim.  Like that page where the Author signed "Ruggiero Pancetta, e per piacere non mi chiamate Baccone, eh?"
    
15. Second, he needed Marci's letter.  It takes a few years, and a lot more persuasion, but he eventually gets it. 
    
16. Third, he needs evidence that Raphael's claim was not just a wild guess.
    
17. For the latter he runs through Rudolph's courtiers, and settles on Jacobus as a suitable missing link.
    
18. He gets a copy of Jacobus's ex-libris and forges one on f1r. 
    
19. He also writes three columns of letters on the margin imitating Marci's own handwriting.
    
20. He takes a photo of f1v, then erases both "signature" and letters to make forensic examination impossible.
    

Compared to the SPT, this version explains why the Jesuits decided to sell books to this American  dealer, in spite of all the risks: because it was Wilfrid who absolutely wanted the deal.

It also explains why MS 408 was not described in any detail in the record of the sale: because both parties knew that it was worth millions, and thus its sale for a few hundred dollars would be much worse than the sale itself.

And the same point explains why Wilfrid kept lying about the provenance even after the Lateran treaty of 1929, when the Italian government renounced any claims on those books.

And this alternative story also explains why Wilfrid did not mention Marci's letter until many years after he got the book: because it did not came with the book.

And it also explains the blotched attempt at "enhancing" the "signature" on f1r.

All the best, --stolfi