Re: VMs: Voynich biographical information

[Rene Zandbergen <r_zandbergen@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear all,

the below-mentioned (in Gabriel's E-mail at
the bottom) all refer to the same event.
Voynich displayed some of his acquisitions
at the Art Institute in Chicago in 1915, and
the Institute wrote one page about it in its
Bulletin. A list of the items involved would
be of some interest, but I don't expect any
contradiction with Ruysschaert's list.

I just went back to my copied pages of De Ricci.
It is a reprint of 1961 by Kraus Reprint
Corporation. (Yes, the same Kraus). Thus, the 
contents should be the same as the original.

It says on p.1845:

------- start quote ------
THE ESTATE OF 
WILFRID M. VOYNICH
45 PROSPECT PLACE, NEW YORK

The late Wilfrid M. Voynich was a bookseller of
a very unusual character. His enthousiastic nature
served him well and was much appreciated by his 
many patrons. We are much obliged to the 
Administrators of his estate for welcome information
on several interesting manuscripts which he 
still possessed at the time of his decease and
the ultimate disposal of which is still a matter
of conjecture.
------ end quote ------

Then follow 16 MS descriptions; not all are
apparently from the Mondragone.

On p.1846:
------- start quote ------
8. Cipher ms. Vel. (date uncertain, authorities
hesitate between the XIIIth and XVIth c.; we
suppose it to be not much older than 1500), 91 ff.
[plus 7 extended ff. of 2 ff. each, 2 extended ff.
of 3 ff. each, and one folded f. of 6 ff.] (22 x
15 cm.), numbered in a XVIth century hand from 1
to 116, with a few gaps. Numerous drawings on 202
pages, botanical, pharmaceutical and astrological.
The country of origin seems to be some part of 
Central Europe. The language and the script have
baffled numerous attempts towards a decipherment.
Limp vellum wrapper, apparently of the XVIth 
century. Paper end-leaves possibly of the same
date.
------ end quote ------
Then a somewhat longer section in smaller print,
excerpts:
Attached to the binding is an autograph letter...
[description of the contents of the Marci letter]
... On the lower margin of f. 1 r. is the erased
signature of the Bohemian botanist Sinapius
(Jacobus de Tepenecz). - It was later in the 
Collegio Romano, in Rome, and was obtained in
1912 by W.M.Voynich.
There is considerable literature on this ms.,
beginning with an unsigned note in the Bull.Art
Inst.Chicago, IX (1915), p.100. An elaborate (but
hardly successful) study of the cipher will be
found in the essay of William Romaine Newbold,...


There is no information about where WMV got it.

Cheers, Rene

--- Gabriel Landini <G.Landini@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Rafal,
> You mentioned:
> It was first presented to the public in 1915 in
> Chicago [Bulletin of the Art 
> Institute of Chicago, IX, 1915, p.100].
> 
> In Jim R's bibliography, there are also other items
> on the VMS that year. 
> 
> Were these published before the one above? (not that
> this is too important).
> 
> "Art Works Worth $1,500,000 Arrive to Escape War."
> Chicago Daily Tribune. 9 
> Oct 1915, p 1, Col 2. [Exhibit of WMV's books at the
> Art Institute of Chicago 
> which includes "a work by Roger Bacon in cipher to
> which the key has never 
> been discovered." Not seen.].  
> 
> *Antique Books Worth $500,000." Chicago Sunday
> Tribune. 10 Oct 1915, sec II, p 
> 1, col 5. [Exhibit of WMV's books at the Art
> Institute of Chicago. A few 
> paragraphs describe the VMS. "The manuscript is from
> the hand of Roger 
> Bacon... was bought by Emperor Rudolf... and at the
> end of the sixteenth 
> century passed into the hands of King Ferdinand of
> Bohemia." Not seen.]  
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Gabriel
> 
>
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