Editing Voynich manuscript (section)

== History ==
[[File:Jan Marcus Marci 00.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Jan Marek Marci|Joannes Marcus Marci]], who sent the manuscript to [[Athanasius Kircher]] in 1665 or 1666]]
[[File:Michał Wojnicz wśród książek w swoim antykwariacie na Soho Square.jpg|thumb|Voynich among his books in Soho Square]]

Much of the book's early [[provenance]] is unknown,<ref name=Zandbergen-history>{{cite web |last=Zandbergen |first=René |url=http://www.voynich.nu/history.html |title=Voynich MS – Long tour: Known history of the manuscript |website=Voynich.nu |access-date=8 June 2016 |archive-date=7 October 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001007110957/http://www.voynich.nu/history.html |url-status=live}}</ref> though the text and illustrations are all characteristically European. In 2009, [[University of Arizona]] researchers [[radiocarbon dated]] the manuscript's vellum to between 1404 and 1438.<ref name="physorg" /><ref name=monsters>{{cite web |url=http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1516863.php/Mysterious-Voynich-manuscript-is-genuine-scientists-find |title=Mysterious Voynich manuscript is genuine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105013145/http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1516863.php/Mysterious-Voynich-manuscript-is-genuine-scientists-find |archive-date=5 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Stolte |first=Daniel |title=UA Experts Determine Age of Book 'Nobody Can Read' |url=http://uanews.org/node/37825 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217095619/http://uanews.org/node/37825 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=17 February 2011 |publisher=University of Arizona |date=9 February 2011 |access-date=8 June 2016}}</ref> In addition, [[McCrone Associates]] in Westmont, Illinois, found that the paints in the manuscript were of materials to be expected from that period of European history. There have been erroneous reports that McCrone Associates indicated that much of the ink was added not long after the creation of the parchment, but their official report contains no such statement.<ref name=analysis />

The first confirmed owner was [[Georg Baresch]], a 17th-century [[alchemist]] from [[Prague]]. Baresch was apparently puzzled about this "[[Sphinx|Sphynx]]" that had been "taking up space uselessly in his library" for many years.<ref name=Zandbergen-letters /> He learned that [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] scholar [[Athanasius Kircher]] from the [[Collegio Romano]] had published a [[Coptic language|Coptic]] ([[Egyptology|Egyptian]]) dictionary and [[Oedipus Aegyptiacus|claimed to have deciphered]] the [[Egyptian hieroglyph]]s; Baresch twice sent a sample copy of the script to Kircher in Rome, asking for clues. The 1639 letter from Baresch to Kircher is the earliest known mention of the manuscript to have been confirmed.<ref name=Schuster-2009>{{cite book |last=Schuster |first=John |year=2009 |title=Haunting Museums |pages=175–272 |publisher=Tom Doherty Associates |isbn=978-1-4299-5919-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBvnz9i0h8sC&pg=PA175 |access-date=8 June 2016}}</ref>

Whether Kircher answered the request or not is not known, but he was apparently interested enough to try to acquire the book, which Baresch refused to yield.<ref name="Schuster-2009" /> Upon Baresch's death, the manuscript passed to his friend [[Jan Marek Marci]] (also known as Johannes Marcus Marci), then [[Rector (academia)|rector]] of [[Charles University]] in Prague. A few years later, Marci sent the book to Kircher, his longtime friend and correspondent.<ref name=Schuster-2009 />

Marci also sent Kircher a cover letter (in Latin, dated 19 August 1665 or 1666) that was still attached to the book when Voynich acquired it:<ref name=Zandbergen-letters>{{cite web |last=Zandbergen |first=René |date=19 May 2016 |title=17th Century letters related to the MS |series=Voynich manuscript |url=http://www.voynich.nu/letters.html |website=Voynich.nu |access-date=9 June 2016|archive-date=14 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114181841/http://voynich.nu/letters.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Jackson-2015>{{cite web |last=Jackson |first=David |date=23 January 2015 |title=The Marci letter found inside the VM |url=http://www.davidjackson.info/voynich/2015/01/23/the-merci-letter-found-inside-the-vm/ |access-date=9 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128221832/http://www.davidjackson.info/voynich/2015/01/23/the-merci-letter-found-inside-the-vm/ |archive-date=28 January 2020}}</ref><ref name=Knight-2009>{{cite web |last=Knight |first=Kevin |date=September 2009 |title=The Voynich manuscript |url=http://www.isi.edu/natural-language/people/voynich.pdf |access-date=9 June 2016 |archive-date=29 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729103854/https://www.isi.edu/natural-language/people/voynich.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Ensanian-2007>{{cite web |last=Ensanian |first=Berj N. |date=27 February 2007 |title=Archive of communications of the Journal of Voynich Studies |url=http://www.as.up.krakow.pl/jvs/JVSvolI2007.htm|access-date=9 June 2016|archive-date=12 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312085353/http://www.as.up.krakow.pl/jvs/JVSvolI2007.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=LetterBeinecke>{{cite web |title=Beinecke 408A |url=http://www.voynich.net/neal/marci_transcription.html#beinecke |access-date=9 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602083733/http://www.voynich.net/neal/marci_transcription.html#beinecke |archive-date=2 June 2016}}</ref><ref name=NealLetter>{{cite web |last=Neal |first=Philip |title=The letter of Johannes Marcus Marci to Athanasius Kircher (1665) |url=http://www.voynich.net/neal/marci_1665_translation.html |access-date=9 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315091931/http://www.voynich.net/neal/marci_1665_translation.html |archive-date=15 March 2016}}</ref><ref name=DosSantos>{{cite web |last=Santos |first=Marcelo dos |title=El Manuscrito Voynich |url=http://axxon.com.ar/rev/140/c-140Divulgacion.htm |language=es |access-date=9 June 2016|archive-date=13 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190113062811/http://axxon.com.ar/rev/140/c-140Divulgacion.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Reverend and Distinguished Sir, Father in Christ:

This book, bequeathed to me by an intimate friend, I destined for you, my very dear Athanasius, as soon as it came into my possession, for I was convinced that it could be read by no one except yourself.

The former owner of this book asked your opinion by letter, copying and sending you a portion of the book from which he believed you would be able to read the remainder, but he at that time refused to send the book itself. To its deciphering he devoted unflagging toil, as is apparent from attempts of his which I send you herewith, and he relinquished hope only with his life. But his toil was in vain, for such Sphinxes as these obey no one but their master, Kircher. Accept now this token, such as it is and long overdue though it be, of my affection for you, and burst through its bars, if there are any, with your wonted success.

Dr. Raphael, a tutor in the [[Czech language|Bohemian language]] to Ferdinand III, then King of Bohemia, told me the said book belonged to the [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Rudolf]] and that he presented to the bearer who brought him the book 600 [[ducat]]s. He believed the author was [[Roger Bacon]], the Englishman. On this point I suspend judgement; it is your place to define for us what view we should take thereon, to whose favor and kindness I unreservedly commit myself and remain

At the command of your Reverence,

Joannes Marcus Marci of Cronland

Prague, 19th August, 1665 [or 1666]}}

The "Dr. Raphael" is believed to be [[Raphael Sobiehrd-Mnishovsky]],<ref name=Tiltman-1967 /> and the sum of 600 ducats is {{convert|{{multiply|54/480|600}}|ozt|kg|lk=on|abbr=on}} of [[actual gold weight]]. The only matching transaction in Rudolf's records is the 1599 purchase of "a couple of remarkable/rare books" from [[Karl Widemann|Carl Widemann]] for the sum of 600 [[florin]]s.<ref name=Guzy-2022>{{cite journal |last=Guzy |first=Stefan |year=2022 |title=Book Transactions of Emperor Rudolf II, 1576–1612: New Findings on the Earliest Ownership of the Voynich Manuscript |journal=CEUR Workshop Proceedings |volume=3313 |url=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3313/paper16.pdf |access-date=10 January 2023 |archive-date=10 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110035236/https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3313/paper16.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Widemann was a prolific collector of esoteric and alchemical manuscripts, so his ownership of the manuscript is plausible, but unproven.<ref name=Guzy-2022 />

While Wilfrid Voynich took Raphael's claims at face value, the Bacon authorship theory has been largely discredited.<ref name=D-Imperio-1978 /> However, a piece of evidence supporting Rudolf's ownership is the now almost invisible name or signature, on the first page of the book, of [[Jacobus Sinapius|Jacobus Horcicky de Tepenecz]], the head of Rudolf's botanical gardens in Prague. Rudolf died still owing money to de Tepenecz, and it is possible that de Tepenecz may have been given the book (or simply taken it) in partial payment of that debt.<ref name=Zandbergen-history />

[[File:Wilfrid Voynich c1920.jpg|thumb|[[Wilfrid Voynich]] acquired the manuscript in 1912.]]
No records of the book for the next 200 years have been found, but in all likelihood, it was stored with the rest of Kircher's correspondence in the library of the [[Collegio Romano]] (now the [[Pontifical Gregorian University]]).<ref name=Schuster-2009 /> It probably remained there until the troops of [[Victor Emmanuel II of Italy]] captured the city in 1870 and annexed the [[Papal States]]. The new Italian government decided to confiscate many properties of the Church, including the library of the Collegio.<ref name=Schuster-2009 /> Many books of the university's library were hastily transferred to the personal libraries of its faculty just before this happened, according to investigations by Xavier Ceccaldi and others, and those books were exempt from confiscation.<ref name=Schuster-2009 /> Kircher's correspondence was among those books, and so, apparently, was the Voynich manuscript, as it still bears the ''[[bookplate|ex libris]]'' of [[Pieter Beckx|Petrus Beckx]], head of the Jesuit order and the university's rector at the time.<ref name="MS 408" /><ref name=Schuster-2009 />

Beckx's private library was moved to the [[Villa Mondragone]], [[Frascati]], a large country palace near Rome that had been bought by the [[Society of Jesus]] in 1866 and housed the headquarters of the Jesuits' [[Ghislieri College]].<ref name=Schuster-2009 />

In 1903, the Society of Jesus (Collegio Romano) was short of money and decided to sell some of its holdings discreetly to the [[Vatican Library]]. The sale took place in 1912, but not all of the manuscripts listed for sale ended up going to the Vatican.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archiviopug.org/2016/10/22/the-journey-to-america-of-a-set-of-manuscripts-from-the-collegium-romanum |title=The journey to America of a set of manuscripts from the Collegium Romanum |publisher=Gregorian Archives |date=22 October 2016 |access-date=25 October 2017 |archive-date=25 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025132051/https://archiviopug.org/2016/10/22/the-journey-to-america-of-a-set-of-manuscripts-from-the-collegium-romanum/ |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Wilfrid Voynich]] acquired 30 of these manuscripts, among them the one which now bears his name.<ref name=Schuster-2009 /> He spent the next seven years attempting to interest scholars in deciphering the script, while he worked to determine the origins of the manuscript.<ref name=Tiltman-1967 />

In 1930, the manuscript was inherited after Wilfrid's death by his widow [[Ethel Voynich]], author of the novel ''[[The Gadfly]]'' and daughter of mathematician [[George Boole]]. She died in 1960 and left the manuscript to her close friend Anne Nill. In 1961, Nill sold the book to antique book dealer [[Hans P. Kraus]]. Kraus was unable to find a buyer and donated the manuscript to Yale University in 1969, where it was catalogued as "MS 408",<ref name=D-Imperio-1978 /> sometimes also referred to as "Beinecke MS 408".<ref name="MS 408" />

=== Timeline of ownership ===
The timeline of ownership of the Voynich manuscript is given below. The time when it was possibly created is shown in green (early 1400s), based on [[carbon dating]] of the [[vellum]].<ref name=Zandbergen-history /> Periods of unknown ownership are indicated in white. The commonly accepted owners of the 17th century are shown in orange; the long period of storage in the Collegio Romano is yellow. The location where Wilfrid Voynich allegedly acquired the manuscript (Frascati) is shown in green (late 1800s); Voynich's ownership is shown in red, and modern owners are highlighted blue.
{{Timeline of Voynich manuscript ownership}}