I've looked again and again at the VMS foliation, and I simply can't draw
the conclusion that all the VMS folio 8's were drawn from the bottom. For
example:-
f88r - the first 8 looks (to me) as though it was drawn from the middle -
the two diagonals don't appear to quite meet up, the top right diagonal
dipping down slightly below the bottom left diagonal, in the same way that
Kelley's 8's were drawn. (Though the second 8 is inconclusive).
f87r - this appears to have a kink at the bottom indicative of
starting/finishing there, which would support your observation instead. So
I simply don't know. :-(
But, my caveats for the 8s aside, I'd really like you to have a close look
at the rest of Kelley's numbering - I can't begin to stress how similar it
feels to the VMS when placed side by side. I drew careful sketches of how
each number was drawn and varied, not expecting any kind of match: and was
then extremely surprised at how closely similar the two were.
I'll try to buy a copy of that page to post up here - but if anyone knows a
better source of Edward Kelley's handwriting in the British Library
(especially italic!), please shout now before I waste my money!
It assumes that because Dee and Kelley
were in Bohemia during Rudolf's reign, they must have had
something to do with the VMS.
What I said was: from what I've seen, the foliation is significantly more
likely to be Kelley than Dee - in fact, there's really no contest between
the two, it's Kelley all the way.
So: you're completely right, I am framing this in relative terms: but if we
could only judge the VMS in absolute terms, we'd probably all give up in a
matter of minutes. All we can do is try to run with different scenarios,
and see how far they take us.