The Book Switch Theory

[kckluge]

Letters from November 1915.

Forgive me if I have missed or misread some details, but are you, Rene (or others), of the belief that Wilfrid had actually read the Marci letter at least by Nov 1915 and misunderstood the "Rudolph" that Marci mentioned as Rudolph I, and not Rudolph II?   If it is not believable that he would have misunderstood the reference in Marci's letter, then the Garrison letter you showed is evidence that he did not bother to read the Marci letter for at least 3 years after acquiring it. (Before seeing this Garrison letter, I have only seen evidence that his tardy reading of the letter could have been up to 9 years.)

An article in the 09 Dec. 1915 Buffalo News regarding a display of Voynich's manuscripts in that city (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.) states, "....One of these manuscripts was written in the 13th century by Roger Bacon. It is on rough parchment. in unciphered code....It is illustrated by the author with drawings of plants, constellations, figures of women and some groups not understood. It was bought by Emperor Rudolf for 600 ducats, an enormous sum at that time, and at the end of the sixteenth century passed to King Ferdinand of Bohemia." That makes pretty clear he had read the Marci letter before that date.

The relevant passage of the Marci letter reads (in Philip Neal's translation), "Doctor Raphael, the Czech language tutor of King Ferdinand III as they both then were, once told me that the said book belonged to Emperor Rudolph and that he presented 600 ducats to the messenger who brought him the book. He, Raphael, thought that the author was Roger Bacon the Englishman." Given that Rudolf I reigned from 1 October 1273 – 15 July 1291 and Bacon died c. 1292, I'm not sure why it is "unbelievable" Voynich could have made that mistake.