"V. Botkin" yields n b o k v (with i & t left over).  I'm sure someone has pointed this out before.  Sounds like a conscious red herring to me.

The description of the man in the library jibes with every other description of Pnin (whose presence is earlier noted in the novel).  Photographs of VN from the late 50s/early 60s show him with thinning, receding hair but not as bald. Plus, would VN have ever appeared in public (or even in a cameo) wearing a Hawaiian shirt?  I doubt it.

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