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Re: VMs: Ryland 228

Dear Gordon,

For example, the overall planning of the VMS could be done in the "eight up"
model using one bifolio, in which each side of the bifolio contained notes about
eight quires (16 quires of 16 pages each = 256 pages). The notes could be things
like "this quire to contain images of plants; remember to include a couple of
labels from the 'cosmo' section as if you're referring to the right phase of the
moon to pick the plants". A couple of evenings is enough for a reasonably
complete overview, complete with hoax features to include.

BTW, may I ask you what your view is on the connection between the pictures in the herbal section and the pharma section? Obviously, the two are either linked or they're not - hoaxing might seem a slightly awkward fit for a document with internal (visual) cross-references.

I'm interested in your point about Dee's involvement. I've often wondered about
that. Dee is usually portrayed as being above suspicion, but there's that odd
feature of the suddenly appearing money in Dee's possession just about the time
that Rudolph bought the VMS. Dee recorded a lot of things in his diary, but not
the reason for that money appearing. There's the related issue of their
relationship with Puccius, which involved a lot of money and some unexplained
dealings. It's tempting to speculate that Puccius provided Kelly and/or Dee with
a north Italian manuscript dating from about 1480 as a template for some of the
illustrations and handwriting in the VMS. That, though, is just speculation.

I think Rafal Prinke is totally correct to strongly question the Dee-centric view of VMS' history - many of the supposed pieces of evidence don't quite "stack up":-

http://hum.amu.edu.pl/~rafalp/HERM/VMS/dee.htm#9

Having said that... I do think the quire-marks are Dee's, and the foliation is Kelly's: but this doesn't mean I think the "600/630 ducats" evidence links the sale with Dee.

I think it is somewhat more likely that the VMS had no more than curiosity value (not financial value) during that general period, and that it ended up being bought by Sendivogius after Kelly's death, along with most of his estate. And from Sendivogius, it could have gone anywhere. :-)

This apparent lack of financial value could also be taken as being in support of the idea it wasn't a hoax: technical (ie constructional) issues aside, it would need a wealthy sucker certain to fall for the gag to make it worth the hoaxer's while, and there's no persuasive evidence of that... yet.

It might be that Puccius (or anybody, really) provided the conduit for the VMS to get into Dee's and Kelly's hands (directly from Italy etc): or it might be that (as some believe) Kelly bought it off a bloke in a pub on his way to Wales, who'd dug it up from a ransacked monastery etc etc. Certainly, Kelly was not averse to a certain amount of myth-making (OK, perhaps "outright lying" captures it better)... so who knows?

Either way, that's the point where I believe the historical trail goes cold. Is the rest signal or noise? Discuss! :-9

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


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