Re: VMs: Drawing circles

["Larry Roux" <lroux@xxxxxxx>]

I printed two "random" pages f70v1 and f71r and the circles match perfectly.  That did not surprise me much as I suspected whatever tool was used to draw the circles was used over again.  

What *did* shock me was that the word "shcy" on the two pages was *exactly* the same.  Same size, same inflexion.  When you hold it to the light the two occurrences merge into one.  Now how weird is that?!?!

If I was able to write characters around a circle and have them come out exactly the same - size and shape - I think I would be shocked beyond all belief.




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Larry Roux
Syracuse University
lroux@xxxxxxx
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>>> pyro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 08/05/03 20:30 PM >>>
Ok..

If this is true and the "light box" was available in VMS days, that encourages my insane fascination about the translucency of vellum.  The "how" of the circle creation was secondary to my interest in the "if" of the apparent recto/verso alignment was intentional. (that's a sentence to make an English teacher scream)

Barbara, do you know of any reference material about this light box, its use and how common it was?

Ken


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Barbara Barrett 
  To: vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2003 5:55 PM
  Subject: Re: VMs: Drawing circles


  Barbara babbles;
  I wonder how many listers realise that the artists tool, the "light
  box", was actually invented in the 7th Century AD by an unknown monk on
  Holy Island to aid the production of the Lindisfarne Gospels (AKA The
  Book of Lindisfarne) and was a standard tool of monastic scriptoria by
  the 8thC? Any well equiped private scriptorium in the 16thC would almost
  certainly have had at least one.

  I've no idea what these "ancient" light boxes used in place of modern
  float glass (a 20thC invention) as a work surface, howver the principle
  of placing a light source behind a transparent work surface to enable
  *very* accurate tracing, and a shadowless work surface, was several
  centuries old by the time of the Voynich and I can see no reason why the
  Voynich author(s) couldn't have used one if they worked in a monastic or
  private scriptorium.

  Perhaps this explains the "how" of the drawings folk puzzle over?

  Just a thought.

  Barbara

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