Re: VMs: Theory? What theory?: index?

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Matt,

At 05:13 04/08/2003 -0700, Matt Welnicki wrote:
> At one point early on I considered whether some of the
> pages were indexes - like 49v albeit not at the end of
> the Manuscript or a specific section.  Even recently
> I've thought about whether the pages were organized or
> once organized in an order.  I forget the reference but
> I had done some research and a couple of authorities
> said that indexing was inconsistent througout the
> 1400-1600 range with different methods used.  One
> source said the herbals were commonly indexed in the
> mid-1500s.

Many of the herbals I've looked at were organised alphabetically, and I've 
read elsewhere that this is quite typical of the genre. FWIW, the VMS 
appears to be organised according to some other principle (though what that 
principle might be is another matter entirely). :-o

>   I understand that indexing might not be as
> important if it is a work in progress for the use of
> one physician.  Specifically, I tried, briefly, to see
> any obvious or hidden page numbers/indicators that
> could correspond to an index, it might warrant some
> follow-up.

Physician's folding calendars (mentioned briefly in Nancy Siraisi's book 
"Medieval & Early Modern Medicine" - the picture on p.33, figure 3 shows 
the Wellcome Institute Library's MS 40, a.1463) were organised into folded 
sections (uroscopy, zodiac man, etc), typically each having a red letter on 
the outside (similar to the stand-out red letters on VMS f1r).

I've previously argued on-list that the pairs of objects on the first page 
of some quires (two red letters, two eyes, two worms, etc) might correspond 
to some kind of section "theme" (poison, eye-medicine, stomach-remedies, 
etc) - but that's just an observation, make of it what you will. :-)

> If organized alphabetically, would it be alphabetically
> in the plain-text language/alphabet or the cipher-text
> language/alphabet.

I've also read about pre-1600 methods of indexing (and in fact of 
structuring data): if you're interested, there are some articles by Paul 
Saenger you might like to check out. The reference I have to hand is:-

   Word and Image

   Volume 17 Issue 1 2001

   Benito arias montano and the evolving notion of locus in
   sixteenth-century printed books
   P Saenger 119-137

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


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