VMs: Determining the writing speed...?

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

Can we prove that the VMs was copied from a pre-existing text (say, written 
on a wax tablet), rather than being written while being encoded by the same 
person?

The frequently-cited low error-rate is one supporting factor - but can we 
estimate, from a close stroke-analysis of several lines on a 
highly-magnified page, the speed and regularity of the writing from the ink 
refilling rate?

It might be a good idea to ask some SCA people (with proper quill 
experience) to try to duplicate some lines from the VMS using the same size 
quill and writing surface, and see if we can build up an idea of the rate 
at which the writing phase took place.

Alternatively, a decent palaeographer might be able to assess this by 
comparison with the writing speed of other humanist documents of the same 
period (which would presumably have been written by a professional scribe 
going full pelt).

Has anyone on-list looked at this in the past?

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


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