Re: VMs: new revelations

[Gabriel Landini <G.Landini@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wednesday 01 Jan 2003 2:35 pm, Rafal T. Prinke wrote:
> it cannot be convincingly DISproved.

Yes, I agree that it cannot be disproved.

> I said:
> > It is good to keep in mind that there are some
> > pieces of evidence that could not have been
> > 'forged' by Voynich: Marci's printed book and the
> > Kircher correspondence (which is cross-referenced
> > and the index includes the Baresch letter).
>
> But this does not constitute absolute proof - that would
> be either finding the copies from VMS made by Baresch
> or cyclotrone test (or some equivalent) of the manuscript,
> especially the ink(s).

I agree here too. I would be more interested on the ink analysis rather than 
the ms itself because it could be just possible to write a modern fake on old 
vellum.
We need to find any of the following to make sure that the vms and the known 
letters are referring to the same thing:

1. Baresch's 1st. letter to Kircher, possibly sent around Oct 1637. Baresch 
never got a reply (he said that in his 2nd letter. So this one may have been 
lost before it reached K ore kept separate (and that it is why is not in the 
Carteggio). This one had some VMS transcription.

2. Some lines of transcription included in Baresch's 2nd letter to Kircher 
(1639). These are not in the letter itself, so either B forgot to write them, 
or they were in a separate page also kept separate from the correspondence.

3. The Baresch's "schaedata" (whatever this may be) sent by Marci to Kircher 
on 12 Jan 1641. Same story, this is not archived with the K letters.

Regarding the 1st letter that possibly never reached K, either Moretus took it 
to K, or he arranged for somebody to take it instead. If Moretus did not go 
to Rome in that period (around Oct 1637), obviously somebody else must have 
done so. 

However, more interesting bits may still be missing, because we do not know 
what did K reply to any of these. I wonder whether any letter from K in reply 
to B would have been inherited by Marci with the rest of B's library?

So, while Yale could do the ink testing, any of the 3 items above would give 
the same indication that the vms is not a modern hoax. Only then, radiocarbon 
dating of the *vellum* would be of even more interest.

> But constructing the scenario, consider the following
> facts:
> - 1895 - ELV and Sidney Reilly go to Italy (Rome, Florence, Bologne);
>        she works in the Marucelliana Library of Florence and
>        other archives (Preface to _The Gadfly_); there are
>        3 Kircher letters to Francesco Redi in the Marucelliana
>        (the earliest 1668); Redi is described as "quite a linguist"

Hmm... has anybody considered whether Kircher would send letters to other 
people regarding the vms? 

Cheers,
Gabriel


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