Cost to produce the Voynich manuscript

[Jorge_Stolfi]

the fact that the Marci letter was written at least within living memory of the claimed events and there does some to be some indirect corroboration in Rudolf's records that he paid Widemann in the rough amount claimed does seem to indicate some authenticity to the claim.

In You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Marci wrote
   

• D. Dr Raphael, tutor in the Bohemian language to Ferdinand III, the King of Bohemia, told me that said book had belonged to Emperor Rudolf, for which he presented the bearer who brought him the book 600 ducats, the true author he believed was Roger Bacon, the Englishman. I suspend my judgment, ...
  

This passage is ambiguus.  First, it is not clear who was the "he" in the senrence "the true author he believed was Roger Bacon": was it Rudolf, or Raphael?  Second, it is not clear what Marci was "suspending his judgement about".  Was he saying "I don't trust Raphael's story" or "I wonder whether the book is indeed Bacon's".  

Wilfrid just ignored Marci's misgivings, trusted Raphael, and interpreted this letter as proof that the VMS had belonged to Rudolf and was a Bacon's original.

Since it has been established that Bacon was not the Author, the optimists still have assumed that Raphel had seen the VMS in Rudolf's possession, and that he knew for certain that it was the book Rudolf paid 600 ducats for, and that Rudolf at least, if not Raphael, believed it was Bacon's.  And then Marci's "suspend my judgement" meant that he was doubting only the Bacon authorship bit.

But if the book purchase for "600 ducats" (rather florins?) happened in 1599, as Rene's research indicates, then it happened when Raphael was still a young college student.  It s very unlikely that Raphael was at the Court at that time.  Therefore his statement to Marci must have been based on hearsay only.  Therefore there is no reason to assume that he had ever seen Rudolf's "Bacon's book" while it was in Rudolf's possession, and was only guessing that this mysterious "cipher" book now in Marci's hands may have been it.  Then Marci's "ego juditium meum suspendo" may have been a polite way to warn Kircher: "I myself think Raphael got his story from an LLM". 

The signature of Horcicky that appears under UV analysis makes it somewhat undeniable that it would've at least been around the court of Prague.

That "signature" is suspicious in many ways.  I myself think that it is more likely than not that it was forged bt Wilfrid, precisely to provide evidence that the book was once in the hands of someone who could have received the book form Rudolf.  Because, without that signature, there would be not a shred or lint of evidence that the VMS was ever anywhere near Rudolf.  Or that it is the same book mentioned in Marci's letter.  Or that it even was in Bohemia, at any time.

All the best, --stolfi