Yesterday, 04:41 PM
Hi Ovum Vitellus:
I went down the list of source manuscripts and poured through the descriptions/provenance to see if Voynich owned any of them. Most of the provenance descriptions of most books don't, unfortunately, include book dealers and brokers in their provenance, unfortunately. They have the owners, usually, or maybe the auction houses... rarely. But hardly ever the actual broker who bought or sold the work between listed owners.
A few of the dates of transition of ownership do overlap Voynich's active years in London, Florence and Paris. But that tells us nothing... other than (to beat a dead theorem) full my requirements. That is, the minimum possible requirements, in this case, that the item be somewhere Voynich is also known to have been... broadly, Paris, for several of these. Of course he would have been very interest in the collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. And their Richelieu Site (Historic/Research Site) was only a (presumably) pleasant 13 minute walk from Voynich's Paris location:
So beyond simply fulfilling the most basic requirements of the Theorem, these books actually place my suspect within 13 minutes of several of the sources.
But even further than that, I found another intriguing (to me) possible connection to one of your listed volumes, #166 on your list, the book at the Walters: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
In that description it is pointed out that one Léon Gruel sold this volume to the Walters "before 1931". The description seems a bit contradictory, as it both states, "Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased from Gruel before 1931", then below that, "Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest"... is it before 1931, or IN 1931? We wants to know. AI tells me this is not a contradiction, as "Henry Walters passed away in 1931. In his will, he bequeathed his entire private collection and his gallery building to the City of Baltimore "for the benefit of the public". But, still, he bought this book "before 1931".
I did further searching, and it turns out that the Walters bought two other items from Gruel in 1903 and 1906, but the specific year they bought this Book of Hours is not stated.
Although I didn't track down exactly WHEN the sale was, I hope to find out, and here is why: Léon Gruel, book binder and book seller, had an association WITH Voynich. Gruel's Paris bookbinding shop was located at 418 Rue Saint-Honoré, Paris, which is only an 11 minute walk from the location of Voynich's, which at the Hôtel St. James, 211 Rue Saint-Honoré.
They had some sort of mutual trust, too, as when Gruel failed to compel De Costa Greene into buying his "Lives of the Martyrs" in 1912, Voynich went to her, in person, and she changed her mind and bought it on Morgan's behalf in 1913. It sold for some great deal of money at the time, too... I forget the figure, but it was a fortune.
I do not know, but I have not found any record of Léon Gruel being in the USA to do business directly. Maybe he did? Maybe, like his use of Voynich in the case of the Lives of the Martyrs, it was Voynich who actually brokered the deal with the Walters, in the case of this Walters Book of Hours. But no matter... Gruel owned it at some point, for some time before 1931, and presumably had it in his Paris shop, which was, as stated, an 11 minute walk from Voynich's location.
I think, I mean, that anyone trying to argue that Voynich could not, or would not have, or even, likely didn't have knowledge of the month name forms in the zodiac pages of the Voynich manuscript would be hard pressed to show why. There were several easy and close ways he could have seen them, and he had a great interest in ancient manuscripts... obviously.
Rich
AI addendum:
Léon Gruel and Wilfrid Voynich shared several significant connections beyond their overlapping attempts to sell The Lives of the Martyrs (also known as the "Giotto manuscript") to J.P. Morgan:
- Inscribed Presentation Copy: Léon Gruel gifted an autographed presentation copy of his multi-volume masterwork, [Manuel historique et bibliographique de l'amateur de reliures](You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. ""Manuel historique et bibliographique de l'amateur de reliures" NYPL"), directly to Wilfrid Voynich. This volume is currently preserved in the collections of the New York Public Library.
- Geographic Proximity in Paris: The two operated in very close physical proximity along the same street in Paris. Gruel’s famous bookbinding workshop was located at 418 Rue Saint-Honoré, while Voynich established his Parisian base just a short walk away at the Hôtel St. James, 211 Rue Saint-Honoré (voynich.nu)
- The Giotto Provenance Trail: Before Voynich marketed the manuscript, Gruel was the primary figure in possession of the volume in Paris. Gruel explicitly reached out to Morgan’s librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, in late 1912 to sell it. After she turned him down, Voynich took over the item, using photographs of the illustrations to consult art expert Bernard Berenson before eventually closing the sale with the Morgan family. (voynich.nu)
(16-10-2026, 07:25 AM)eggyk wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.It's no problem at all! If you haven't seen it already, the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. contains almost all of the things that we/I have found about this. A ctrl+f on there will show any of the forms found so far.
I went down the list of source manuscripts and poured through the descriptions/provenance to see if Voynich owned any of them. Most of the provenance descriptions of most books don't, unfortunately, include book dealers and brokers in their provenance, unfortunately. They have the owners, usually, or maybe the auction houses... rarely. But hardly ever the actual broker who bought or sold the work between listed owners.
A few of the dates of transition of ownership do overlap Voynich's active years in London, Florence and Paris. But that tells us nothing... other than (to beat a dead theorem) full my requirements. That is, the minimum possible requirements, in this case, that the item be somewhere Voynich is also known to have been... broadly, Paris, for several of these. Of course he would have been very interest in the collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. And their Richelieu Site (Historic/Research Site) was only a (presumably) pleasant 13 minute walk from Voynich's Paris location:
So beyond simply fulfilling the most basic requirements of the Theorem, these books actually place my suspect within 13 minutes of several of the sources.
But even further than that, I found another intriguing (to me) possible connection to one of your listed volumes, #166 on your list, the book at the Walters: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
In that description it is pointed out that one Léon Gruel sold this volume to the Walters "before 1931". The description seems a bit contradictory, as it both states, "Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased from Gruel before 1931", then below that, "Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest"... is it before 1931, or IN 1931? We wants to know. AI tells me this is not a contradiction, as "Henry Walters passed away in 1931. In his will, he bequeathed his entire private collection and his gallery building to the City of Baltimore "for the benefit of the public". But, still, he bought this book "before 1931".
I did further searching, and it turns out that the Walters bought two other items from Gruel in 1903 and 1906, but the specific year they bought this Book of Hours is not stated.
Although I didn't track down exactly WHEN the sale was, I hope to find out, and here is why: Léon Gruel, book binder and book seller, had an association WITH Voynich. Gruel's Paris bookbinding shop was located at 418 Rue Saint-Honoré, Paris, which is only an 11 minute walk from the location of Voynich's, which at the Hôtel St. James, 211 Rue Saint-Honoré.
They had some sort of mutual trust, too, as when Gruel failed to compel De Costa Greene into buying his "Lives of the Martyrs" in 1912, Voynich went to her, in person, and she changed her mind and bought it on Morgan's behalf in 1913. It sold for some great deal of money at the time, too... I forget the figure, but it was a fortune.
I do not know, but I have not found any record of Léon Gruel being in the USA to do business directly. Maybe he did? Maybe, like his use of Voynich in the case of the Lives of the Martyrs, it was Voynich who actually brokered the deal with the Walters, in the case of this Walters Book of Hours. But no matter... Gruel owned it at some point, for some time before 1931, and presumably had it in his Paris shop, which was, as stated, an 11 minute walk from Voynich's location.
I think, I mean, that anyone trying to argue that Voynich could not, or would not have, or even, likely didn't have knowledge of the month name forms in the zodiac pages of the Voynich manuscript would be hard pressed to show why. There were several easy and close ways he could have seen them, and he had a great interest in ancient manuscripts... obviously.
Rich
AI addendum:
Léon Gruel and Wilfrid Voynich shared several significant connections beyond their overlapping attempts to sell The Lives of the Martyrs (also known as the "Giotto manuscript") to J.P. Morgan:
- Inscribed Presentation Copy: Léon Gruel gifted an autographed presentation copy of his multi-volume masterwork, [Manuel historique et bibliographique de l'amateur de reliures](You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. ""Manuel historique et bibliographique de l'amateur de reliures" NYPL"), directly to Wilfrid Voynich. This volume is currently preserved in the collections of the New York Public Library.
- Geographic Proximity in Paris: The two operated in very close physical proximity along the same street in Paris. Gruel’s famous bookbinding workshop was located at 418 Rue Saint-Honoré, while Voynich established his Parisian base just a short walk away at the Hôtel St. James, 211 Rue Saint-Honoré (voynich.nu)
- The Giotto Provenance Trail: Before Voynich marketed the manuscript, Gruel was the primary figure in possession of the volume in Paris. Gruel explicitly reached out to Morgan’s librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, in late 1912 to sell it. After she turned him down, Voynich took over the item, using photographs of the illustrations to consult art expert Bernard Berenson before eventually closing the sale with the Morgan family. (voynich.nu)
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