Re: VMs: Re: VMS in Russia?

[Rene Zandbergen <r_zandbergen@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- "Rafal T. Prinke" <rafalp@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> So, in other (plain) words, someone was stealing
> the mss, knowing that the collection would be sent
> to Vatican, and selling them to Voynich?

Yes, that is the essence. Of course, since the
money was to be used to restore the Villa,
the perpetrator may have felt justified.

> > In the letter, Ethel V. writes that Wilfrid told
> > her where it came from, since she was his wife,
> > but she could not tell anyone. Then, we she got
> > older, she realised that with her death this
> > information would be lost, so she wrote the
> > letter, to be opened after her death.
> 
> Did she mentioned the VMS explicitely? Or did she
> just mention the 1912 purchase? Any other (earlier)
> purchases? What does the other correspondence of
> Voynich
> directly with the Mondragone people say concerning
> the items bought then?

Someone will need to look at this in the Beinecke
again. Voynich was introduced to the Jesuits by
one Father Strickland, who lived in the Mondragone.
There is at least one letter with the Mondragone
letterhead.
 
> Is the Ethel Lilian's letter dated? This might be
> important as she lived to be 96 - and her memory
> may have not been perfect.

The text was certainly vague about the precise
origin of the MSS. Again, anyone near the 
Beinecke may want to have another look. ELV
certainly did not know everything. She mentioned
that the MSS had been 'hidden' as a result of
some struggle between the Quirinal (the wordly
power of Rome/Italy) and the Vatican (the
centre of catholic power). Maybe my web page is
more explicit...

If the background of Voynich was known to the
US intelligence services (and we have to assume
so), the involvment of the NSA and the classification
of some of the documents is more easily understood.

*If* the VMs turns out to be a piece of Russian
forgery, maybe they have even cracked it, but
don't talk about it :-)

Speculation allows no limits, really.... :-/

There are still a number of ways to find further
documentary evidence of the existence of the VMs, 
which I never pursued, because they were not
easy and I didn't think it would be necessary.

The easiest one is to have a look at Filippo 
Buonanni's catalogue of the Kircher museum.
It does not necessarily contain any further
information though. But, it has 600 or so
pages, while the catalogue of De Sepi (which does
not mention the VMs) is less then 100.

I know of several copies, but none of them
within 400 km from where I live :-(

Cheers, Rene

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