Re: Manuscript format

["Dana F. Scott" <dfscott@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Mark,
   Yes, what you suggest is no doubt possible; however, it seems somewhat
unlikely to me that it was drawn, painted, and written during exploration
and travel across land. The text in the VMS appears to be carefully written,
perhaps by two separate hands, with very few errors, omissions, or mistakes
(I have noticed one correction). While it is conceivable that the VMS was
written in separate sections at different locations, the flow of the text
appears seemless with little on no break in continuity. With a little
stretch of the imagination I can, however, envision the vellum and ink
stowed away aboard a vessel embarked on a long journey from Europe Southward
along the Western coast of Africa, down around the Southern Cape, and then
venturing outward along its trek toward the Orient. During stops along the
way for food, supplies, and water, our venturesome naturalist could have
gone hunting for exotic flora, especially along the coast of South Africa
and then made entries in the manuscript. But, alas, I am more inclined to
believe that the plants were brought to Europe after rhizome explorers
scoured the coastlines along their journeys. In this sense, the plants could
lead a trail back to their place of origin. The classifications of the
plants in the VMS are more likely to be categorized as medicinal, edible,
and toxic.

http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/exhibits/treasures/images/brant.jpg
http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/exhibits/treasures/landc.htm

On the light side ---

Hopefuly, thugh sckribe uf tha Vms wuz ay bit moar edukated n beeng abel too
rite een hiz muther tong then Clarke waz. Othurwize, da tranzlashiun uv thuh
txt'n tha vms iz hoeples.

http://www.lewisandclark.org/pages/writing.htm

Regardé,
Dana Scott

Mark Hagerman wrote:

> Yesterday, I watched a rerun of a PBS documentary on the Lewis & Clark
> expedition (exploring the Louisiana Purchase territory); I was struck by
> the similarity between one of their journal pages and some of the VM
> pages (folios?).
>
> The center of the page was a rendering of some bird, possibly a prairie
> hen; the written material flowed around the image. I suppose this has
> already been proposed, but...is it possible the VM is, or contains as
> one section, a journal of this sort?
>
> In particular, the botanical drawings section might comprise the
> illustrations and attached notes of someone wandering around gathering
> and recording such information. If so, would the sequence of the
> drawings suggest the route the explorer took, and thus constrain the
> probable identities of the plants, themselves, as well as the content of
> the written material?
>
> Mark Hagerman