Re: looking for Baresch

[Zandbergen@xxxxxxxxxxx (Rene Zandbergen)]

A few assorted comments on the Baresch thread:

I am not sure that Marci sent the VMs to Kircher as soon as
he got it, so we don't actually know that Baresch died in the
1660's. But it is what Marci implies in his letter.

The previously believed independent evidence of Baresch's
existence coming from Wilfrid Voynich's statement that Baresch
left Marci his alchemical library may not exist. As Claudio 
Antonini found in the Beinecke, the letter reported by 
Brumbaugh was from Voynich to Prague, not the other way around.
He sent it after he recieved information about Raphael and 
Jacobus from Prague. No letter from Prague to Voynich mentioning
Baresch has yet been found.
Voynich never mentioned Baresch' name anywhere. Thus it is 
conceivable that Voynich actually only saw the Baresch letter
but was not allowed to speak about it. 

If Baresch 'somehow' got the VMs from Jacobus de Tepenec, perhaps
he was from Melnik, where Jac. lived.... This is only one of
many options of course.

Jakub Dobrzenski de Nigro Ponte was not only Marci's successor
but also a trusted collaborator and editor of some of his books.
He may have seen the VMs. He may even have known / corresponded with
Baresch. A source to be checked is (with probably some typos):
  "Miscellanea Chymica tam conceptus quam varias experimentias,
   dubia epistolas processus in se continentia, A.D. 1671 per
   Jac. Dobr. de Nigro Ponte, Phil et Med Doctorem". Cum 9
   continuationibus (usque ad ann. 1677)
   in the Strahov library sign. Lat. E 1 a-g (7 vols).
   Contents: Latin, German, Bohemian, Italian copies of alchemical
   texts & experiments, critics and letters from contemporaries.

Cheers, Rene