Re: VMs: Re: Drawing circles

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Ken,

> Looking beyond the zodiacs, I would stick to some sort of mechanical means.
>
> The f70r1 and f6v1 details you mentioned show a definite circle and I 
> would say the details were added later using the circle as a guide.  The 
> line of the circle is visible, thus inked, meaning it wasn't merely 
> scribed with a point which solely made an impression on the vellum which 
> could be followed.

Glancing photographs (ie, at a very acute angle) of these sections of the 
VMS should help identify if there are any score marks on the vellum. These 
are the kind of basic physical scans that would be done almost 
automatically if the VMS had been discovered this week instead of in 1912, 
instead of having chemicals tipped over the front page to show the erased 
signature... *sigh*

BTW, how many of the sets of circles on a single page are non-concentric or 
"wobbly"? And how close to perfect circles are typical circular marks? 
Trying to get a feel for the VMS systematic wobbliness may move this 
forward. :-)

> Dana's comment about availability of instruments is interesting and the 
> idea could help narrow possibilities of authorship.  Given the size and 
> scope of the VMS I've always felt like this was the product of 
> someone/some institution of means.  It's not of the scale of a 15th 
> century Hollywood blockbuster, but it's no home movie either.  What would 
> have been the "cost" of that much vellum, inks of varying colors and the 
> tools needed to produce such a ms. in 15th century terms?

We've debated this before, but it's a bit of tricky one. The vellum used 
wasn't top class, the range of paints used was fairly broad, scriptoria to 
copy manuscripts were pricy but were run like sweatshops - the tools could 
be expensive, depending on how long you amortise their costs over (ie, a 
week or a decade?)

A lot of the time-related costs are strongly dependent on your theory of 
how the VMS was produced - "lone gunman" theories (like the "doodling 
student" hypothesis) are at the cheap end of the scale, "scribal production 
line" theories (like mine) are probably at the top end of the scale.

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


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