From the lecture by Wilfrid Voynich (1921)

Wilfrid M.Voynich

A Preliminary Sketch of the History of the Roger Bacon Cipher Manuscript

Transactions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Series 3 vol. 43, Philadelphia, 1921, p. 415-30

Read April 20 1921

In 1912, during one of my periodic visits to the Continent of Europe in quest of rare old books and manuscripts, I came across a most remarkable collection of precious illuminated manuscripts. For many decades thesevolumes had lain buried in the chests in which I found them in an ancient castle in Southern Europe where the collection had apparently been stored in consequence of the disturbed political condition of Europe during the early part of the nineteenth century. [p. 415]

…

As I hope some day to be able to acquire the remaining manuscripts in the collection, I refrain from giving details about the locality of the castle. [Footnote, p. 416]