VMs: Jacobj a Tepenece - Signature erasure given the Sherlock treatment

["Robert Antony Hicks" <rob_hicks_vms@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Apologies if this idea has been raised before, or if it was mentioned in the 
recent thread which mentioned the Tepenecz signature...

I spent an idle hour in Holmsian contemplation (complete with pipe) of the 
erased signature on f1r, asking myself "why was it erased?".  My train of 
thought was roughly thus -

The signature was erased.  Why?  So it could not be read.
Why would somebody not want it to be read?  So Jacobus could not be 
associated with the MS.
Who would not wish Jacobus to be associated with the MS?  Only Jacobus 
himself.
Why would he not wish this?  Because he wrote it, and wished to sell it to 
his Emperor, Rudolph II.  He certainly would not be able to do this if his 
name was written on the front.

It all makes sense in this context.  Jacobus was the keeper of Rudolph's 
botanical gardens and alchemical laboratories.  He would surely have 
possessed the esoteric knowledge required to compile the VMS.  Perhaps the 
VMS was his masterwork, a compendium of his acquired knowledge.  Maybe he, 
and assistants, penned the whole work.  Jacobus would have been proud to 
have his name at the bottom of this work's first page, but perhaps seeing 
the chance for a fast ducat or 600, he erased his own name and got an 
associate to sell the MS to Rudolph, safe in the knowledge that his work 
would then be passed back into his care.

I can see no conflict with this story and the 'known' facts of the VMS, or 
does anybody know better?

Rob




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