The hidden structure of the VMS

[npcompl33t]

At first glance, the layout of the Manuscript can seem chaotic, especially with how some of the text is interleaved in the Herbal Sections. 

However, there is clear structure that is currently being obscured by the 

• a) the binding order and 
  
• b) severe page distortion due to gutters and vellum shrinkage
  
• c) good old human error 
  

Using the new toolkit i shared in the tools section, I was able to correct for page distortion and off angle text, and a striking picture emerges, that is different for the two Herbal sections. 

The following shows a heatmap that reflects the % of all pages that have text in a given area. The horizontal bars represent image breaks that occur. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. 

   

A large percentage of Herbal A pages feature some kind of image intrusion, that will split the text. When overlayed, these seem to fall into a type of double column layout, with the different image gaps forming a remarkably rectangular shape. Its also striking how little of the page consistently contains text, just a tiny portion of the top left corner. 


The comparison with herbal B is stark. Herbal B features a clear fully defined text area extending the entire horizontal width. The images in this section tend to occur in the direct center, dividing the page into more like 3 different segments. 


There is one page with the image break outside of the center zone. seems to start out in this 3 column format. 

   


There are also many pages that would co-occur in the innter faces of a bifolio, that exhibit quite a bit more symmetry than may originally appear.

   

For example, the image gaps in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. are almost identical, despite You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. having a line covering the top. f49v-f56r have odd expanding areas and sharp gaps. When combined, these odd areas fill each others voids and share a common angle. f36r-f37v have an obvious left /right symmetry.

You even see these on the two opposing sides of a bifolio, although they seem to take different patterns. Many will have a paragraph at the top and middle on one side, while the opposing side will have a paragraph at the top and bottom, starting at the point the paragraph on the opposing sheet ends.

   


One final tinfoil hat theory for fun. I personally doubt this is true, but I feel some could have a lot of fun with this. Because the images cut so cleanly through the text, a question might be if the same image mask, applied to a different page, would highlight specific words, as in the following.



   

You can experiment around with this You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..