08-05-2017, 05:35 PM
-JKP-
In all but the speculation, italicised in the quote, I'm entirely at one with your comments.
I think where the conversation veers off in these cases is when focus shifts from the task of correctly appraising, and then understanding the content of, Beinecke MS 408 to telling the story of some famous, or nearly-famous person who for some (usually flimsy) reason is lit upon as the 'author' at first or second remove.
It is statistically fairly unlikely that whoever made the VMS (i.e. inscribed the content) should have had his name recorded, let alone feature in subsequent histories of his age.
In all but the speculation, italicised in the quote, I'm entirely at one with your comments.
Quote:I don't know about incomprehensible texts. He had many legitimate contracts. He was also a writer. He was not just a book collector, he was a busy copyist/translator. Part of his passion for collecting books came from a desire to translate rare texts that weren't easily available, to earn extra cash. Apparently he was ambitious for a higher standard of living (this is known from his letters to his friends) so who knows, maybe he would be open to writing something "incomprehensible" on the side (as per the secret project that he was discussing in his correspondence with colleagues) but whether he would actually do it? There is still debate about whether a specific set of books is legit or forged. Perhaps he forged other things that have not been linked to him.
As I said up-thread, I doubt if his hand is in the VMS, but that doesn't mean he or his compatriots weren't linked to it in some way. We don't know. He knew people all over the continent. There's evidence that quite a few herbal manuscripts (and other kinds of manuscripts) were left unfinished, some had only pictures, then labels (or labels and text) have been added by other hands. I get the feeling there's a connection between the VMS text and the illustrations but... the possibility remains open that someone drew it and someone else picked it up and added the "text".
I think where the conversation veers off in these cases is when focus shifts from the task of correctly appraising, and then understanding the content of, Beinecke MS 408 to telling the story of some famous, or nearly-famous person who for some (usually flimsy) reason is lit upon as the 'author' at first or second remove.
It is statistically fairly unlikely that whoever made the VMS (i.e. inscribed the content) should have had his name recorded, let alone feature in subsequent histories of his age.