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Some information about HM 65. Ruysschaert records a total of 332 manuscripts belonging to the Jesuits of Collegio Romano, from which 29 manuscripts left the college towards Americas and Great Britain in 1912 or after, including MS 408. Amongst these 29 manuscripts, 20 are referred in De Ricci and 3 in De Marinis. De Ricci notes that 15 of these manuscripts have been bought by Voynich in 1912. Amongst the other eight, we found two manuscripts now in the H. E. Huntington Library : Ptolemaeus, Almagestum - The H. E. Huntington Library, San Marino, Cal. MS HM 65 Aristoteles, De animalibus - The H. E. Huntington Library, San Marino, Cal. MS HM 1035 I got available information from the curators, in order to establish their property by Voynich. These two manuscripts have the same destiny. As proved by Dorez’s and Ruysschaert’s inventories, they belonged to the famous Pier Leoni’s library. In the Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library, 1989, p.140, C. W. Dutschke says about HM 65 : " Probably belonged to the Jesuit College in Rome, some of whose books passed to the Vatican Library in 1912. At the same time approximately 27 of their manuscripts were sold to the bookdealer W. Voynich, including HM 65. Handwritten bookdealer's notice in French, n. 58, on inside of front cover ". But Dutschke’s source is probably Ruysschaert, Codices…p.vii, n.3 and this information seems to me ambiguous. Ruysschaert ends the list of the foreign manuscripts as follows : " Ni fallor, omnes opera bibliopolae Wilfridi Michaelis Voynich (1865-1930) in has varias bibliothecas emigraverunt". Trans. : " If I am not wrong, all the bookseller Wilfrid Michael Voynich’s works (1865-1930) have emigrated in these various libraries". From this sentence, it has been concluded that all the manuscripts quoted in the Ruysschaert's preface, note 3, have been purchased by Voynich. This interpretation is perhaps the right one, but the only mention of Voynich in note 3 is about the manuscripts listed in his own estate, just after his death, as catalogued by De Ricci. HM 65 has belonged to Frank W. Gunsaulus, one of the good Voynich’s clients (1856-1921) (purchase before 1916) , then has been acquired by Henry E. Huntington, at an unknown date and to an unknown owner. HM 1035 has been acquired by H. E. Huntington from G.D. Smith in 1918. I conclude that, at the present time, Voynich’s property is not clearly established for these two manuscripts I an investigating the history of all the books bought by Voynich in 1912. Go to http://www.geocities.com/voyms/ for some facts on the Voynich's purchases and the history of MS 408 between 1850 and 1912. Best regards.
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