So here's the story about the strange letter.
It is preserved among the papers at the Beinecke library.
It dates from November 1912, so certainly after Voynich acquired the Jesuit collection.
It is written on a piece of paper with the letterhead of the hotel Bristol in Vienna. What the name would not immediately betray is that this is one of the top-rate hotels in Vienna.
The suggestion is very strong that both Voynich and the author of the note were staying in this hotel.
I already contacted the hotel, to find out if guest books or other records have been preserved and I finally got feedback from someone who is a hotel historian in Vienna.
It seems that they have records only of very important guests in the hotel, which included kings and presidents, i.e. way above the level of Voynich.
(I had these exchanges during the time I strongly believed that the collection of Jesuit books had been hidden in Vienna).
So here's the transcription, combined from inputs of Colin MacKinnon and myself:
Quote:Oct. 29th, 1912.
Dear Mr. de Voynich,
Many thanks for your kind note:
the Man to which you refer comes from a
quite unimpeachable source but, of course,
there is little likelihood of the powers
accepting it. But it is interesting
as showing the way men's thoughts run.
I looked for you at lunch today but
did not see you --- I see in the
papers that Msrs . S[ ]ski Shapinski
have been speaking on (?) Lemberg.
With kind regards,
Yours faithfully,
Geo (??) Williams (?)
We believe that "Man" is an abbreviation for "Manuscript", but this is not the Voynich MS.
Lemberg is another name of the city Lviv, and ELV had some connection with it, but that may be coincidental. Who knows...
The picture is attached, with the kind permission of the Beinecke library.