VMs: Re: VMS Quires

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi John,

I hope this isn't a completely stupid question, but do you know what 
function page numbers normally performed in the Renaissance when added to 
manuscripts (assuming that the foliation hand is a Renaissance hand)?

I've read in several places that the idea of "locus" in texts wasn't very 
well-formed around that time: a few heretical manuscripts, following the 
Church's practice for dealing with heretical books, were numbered in order 
that the worst of its pages be proscribed (at slightly earlier times, the 
entire manuscript would have been burned) - but I don't see any evidence of 
this here.

My suggestion is that the foliation would have been specifically added to 
help a code-breaker navigate the text - and this is supported by 
(apparently) the same hand appearing on f49v. Matching the f49v numbering 
ink with the foliation ink would tend to support this.

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....