VMs: RE: a and b

["GC" <glenclaston@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Don!  Long time no hear...write me!

Don wrote:

> I've opined before. Not only is there a difference in the
> statistics, there
> is also a difference in the "hands". a seems far more precise and careful
> than b.  a's characters are more carefully formed, and his pen carefully
> trimmed and kept inked. b, on the other hand, runs out of ink in
> the middle
> of characters, and his characters are sloppily done.  I haven't the time
> now, but perhaps b's section has more "accidentals" or malformed
> characters
> than a's? Perhaps it is a master-apprentice relationship? or b is paid?


I've offered this challenge up several times without a taker.  I personally
have no life to speak of I guess.... which is why I spent a good chunk of it
at one point cutting, pasting and overlaying thousands of VMS glyphs from
different pages to see if there was a difference.  I still haven't found one
that changes my opinion.

Things we would use to differentiate between one hand writing and another -
swirls, loops, tails, relative spacing, pen angle, etc., are fairly
consistent, even on the cramped and unkempt folios.    Nothing I've found to
say "yes, this is another author".  Nothing that would say anything other
than these were written at different times.  The last paragraph of f1r was
not written at the same time as the first three, but added later, in the
same hand, by the same author.  Some folios were apparently not written in
one sitting.  The gaps between some of the sections could have been years in
length, but I've yet to have anyone accept the challenge and demonstrate
within a reasonable doubt that there was more than one author or scribe
involved.

You really don't have to go through all that I did - take only the gallows,
the 8's, the 9's, those things with loops, straight lines and tails.
Establish the baseline orientation for the line, and compare loop
oblongation, tail extension and angle, etc.  Any CAD program will give you
the relevant details, and some out there might even have more sophisticated
algorithmic programs for just this purpose.  Prove me incorrect in this
instance - I'd welcome it, but don't start with the idea that you're right
before proven wrong.  Approach it only as an exercise, like I did, without
formulating an opinion beforehand.

I was left with the sense that this was written by the same person over a
course of long years, not in a few weeks or months.  Some of the evidence
I've pointed out concerning glyph progression also makes this statement, but
if anyone's up to the challenge, I certainly wouldn't want to influence you
with outside evidence. :-)

GC






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