The Modern Forgery Hypothesis

[hbaraiki]

Sorry for the long post. I tried to read the whole topic, but much of it went over my head because of how specific it is.
I’m considering this hypothesis and have read a number of Rich/proto57’s posts on the blog. One thing I couldn’t find was the proposed scenario or timeline. Please correct me if I’ve got any of this wrong:
1. Voynich read Kircher’s letters alluding to a mysterious book written in an unknown script.
2. he decides to forge a manuscript matching the details mentioned in those letters.
3. He forged the Marci letter to support the provenance.
4. He used old vellum, which he could plausibly have obtained since he was an antiquarian book dealer.
5. He forged the Tepenec signature to support a Rudolfine provenance.
6. He hired scribes who knew nothing about the book’s purpose and, possibly because they came from outside the region, did not spread the word. (I was told later by claude’s analysis of Rich’s blog that he doesn’t subscribe to the multiple scribes view)
7. He corresponded with other people while feigning ignorance of the provenance (for example, the Tepenec signature) to support the forgery.

This is the sequence I was able to piece together. Is it accurate? please understand that I don’t want to argue for anything I just want to construct a plausible consistent timeline for this hypothesis. 

Edit: Claude proposed another timeline given a more comprehensive reading of Rich’s blog

1. c. 1908-1910: Voynich creates the manuscript, using descriptions in the Baresch, Kinner and Marci letters of the Kircher Carteggio as a loose “seed.” You consider the match to the Voynich a poor one.
2. 1911/12: He buys about 30 books from the Jesuits. The Carteggio was kept with them, at either the Villa Mondragone or the Villa Torlonia. His friend Joseph Strickland could plausibly have been the route by which he learned of the letters, or saw them.
3. Around the same time: He prompts others to look for the letters (Garland, and Hyvernat via Bishop) and writes to Prague about the name on f1r. You read these indirect inquiries as a way to get outside confirmation without being the one who “found” the evidence.
4. After the purchase: The 1665 Marci letter is forged, by Voynich or someone else, to tie the book to Rudolf II and Roger Bacon. He later says he noticed it only after buying the book. His motive is the price: over $100,000 for a “Roger Bacon cipher manuscript,” against perhaps £1,000 for an interesting herbal, with Bacon’s 700th anniversary in 1914 adding interest.