Re: VMs: Kraus and Beinecke...

["Philip Neal" <philipneal_vms@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> So, in 1969 Beinecke (the man) bought a 1428 bible from Kraus & donated it 
> to Beinecke (the library) - and Kraus then gave the VMS to Beinecke (the 
> library). Coincidence?

No. Edwin J Beinecke endowed the library, which is why it is called after
him, and books bought by the library out of its own funds are said to be
the gift of Edwin J Beinecke (much as Oxford might say that some book
had been bought by Bodley).

Noble treasures like the illuminated bible of 1428 don't come up very often
and are handled by a very few established dealers like Kraus.

> From the point of view of the Beinecke library, the Voynich manuscript is
a *white elephant*. Kraus only gave it to them because he couldn't sell it,
and as a result they are pestered daily by - oops, I nearly said cranks -
people like us for more information and better scans, while more important
but less famous items in their collection have to join what is probably a
five or ten year queue to be photographed at all.

Conclusion: the best hope for obtaining a complete colour scan of the VMS
is to persuade the Beinecke that such a procedure would get would-be
solvers off their backs for good.

Philip Neal

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