New Blog post: "Mysterious Steganography"- a Damning Observation

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Hi René: Thank you for your feedback here...

Before his 1912 major deal with the Jesuits, Voynich was not a big-time dealer. Had he had access to a stock of genuine old parchment, he would have been able immediately to make some good money by selling it in this form.

As I pointed out earlier in this thread, Wilfrid purchased the Libreria Franceshini in 1908, and it was said to have over half a million items of all types... paper and vellum, books, ledgers, broadsheets, newspapers. Apparently the bulk of these items were not all that valuable, although there were reportedly many treasures in there, too. But the son was selling much of it as scrap after he inherited the place, before Voynich bought it.

Also, even in modern times, ancient blank vellum has not been overly valuable. In one case, only a decade or so ago, many blank sheets of 16th century blank vellum... but lined, in prep for writing... was selling for only $20 a sheet. In Voynich's day I think it would have been very inexpensive... and see below:

What few people know is that he actually did this with genuine old paper. He sold sheets of these to a Scottish artist whose name escapes me. This is reported by Millicent Sowerby, who worked with Voynich from 1912 - 1914.

That would be the famous etching artist James McBey. I have the autobiography "The Early Life of James McBey", and his account of purchasing the blank pages from Wilfrid lines up with Sowerby's. I think he sold them for only a shilling a piece.

He also relates scouring the street markets for old materials, for use in his work. He wanted the real old stuff. In one case he found what he believed to be a personal sketchbook of Rubins, in a flea market. But what most interested me is that he collected a huge number of paper samples, and kept notes of their origins. After he died, his widow (a famous and talented book binder, in fact) sold his collection of paper. This was bound into one or more books by the buyer, and I tracked down the library it is in. The point being I wondered if it would be of interest to anyone to see those papers that actually were bought by Voynich, if the provenance was in the notes. I don't know. It is just one of those many trails you can get lost on, probably...

Rich.