Re: VMs: VMS author

["Jeff" <jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: "Rene Zandbergen" <r_zandbergen@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: 22 April 2004 11:23


>
> Hello Jeff,
>
> one of the leading experts on Kepler - I forget her
> name but Gabriel surely remembers - has indicated
> that she never saw any mention of a VMs-like
> document in Kepler's work (in particular his
> correspondence). That question was raised, since
> Kepler, in his association with Rudolf, may possibly
> have had a chance to see or handle the MS, and
> there could have been useful information (e.g.
> things like: the book which the emperor bought from
> Mr.X...).

I do not believe that Kepler had any involvement in the writing of the VMS.
However I believe he did know of it. The reasons for this I will not go into
now as I need to investigate further.

>
> To actually suggest that the VMs dates from a
> contemporary of Kepler is very hard to maintain,
> for several reasons. People normally used paper.
> Baresch, 20 years later, referred to the VMs as
> an old book. Real MS experts all date the book
> to the mid-to-end 15th century.
>
> Best wishes, Rene
>

The paper idea holds very little water. I was talking to a colleague today
about when he thought vellum and parchment went out of fashion. Surprisingly
he said his sister had to prepare documents on vellum when she worked at a
firm of solicitors. So some people were still using vellum in everyday
documents in the 20th century. Just because paper was around does not mean
that there were not those resistent to the new technology.  Remember the
Luddites? Hand crafted manuscripts were becoming a thing of the past in the
new age. WE can hear echoes of this in the complaints made today about throw
away goods. "They don't make em like they used to."

Experts are often wrong. They make educated guesses based on available
facts. State just one available fact that we know definately about the VMS
and I will promise to reconsider.

Jeff


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