VMs: humanist [was; Some thoughts etc]

["Barbara Barrett" <barbarabarrett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Nick Noted;

> Hi Maurizio,
<snip>
> And here's the question: you place the component strokes of the letters
> within a (transitional gothic) littera moderna tradition - but others
argue
> that the overall hand appears (from its uprightness and discrete letters)
> to be within a more (humanist) littera antiqua tradition. What do you make
> of that?

Barbara Babbles;
I'd be interested in Maurizio's take too, and on my own observations.

The Humanists tried to return to a more "pure" Latinate form, and they used
as their model Carolinian, which, ironically, was in it's turn was also an
attempt to return to a more "pure" Latinate form.

Basically there's nothing in the humanist/voynich similarity that can not be
found in Carolinian where the features you mention were a mandatory part of
the style.

> PS: A long time ago, I tried writing Voynichese with an italic pen, but
> found it difficult to produce gallows characters matching the kind of
> control I found on the page.

I had no difficulty whatsoever; either with a quill, with an "italic" felt
tip, or a steel nib calligraphy pen.

>Can we say with any certainty from what we see
> whether the scribe was left-handed or right-handed?

With 100 percent certainty no. However, all vms characters are "inventions"
and therefore would naturally be more likely to follow what the writer found
easier to articulate. All vms characters are easier to articulate with the
right hand.

Barbara


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