11-12-2022, 05:59 PM
I was struck by Lisa Fagin Davis's remark during the recent Voynich Manuscript conference about the apparent organization of scribal production by bifolio. I knew that each bifolio tends to be associated with a particular scribe (or occasionally two), and that when a quire contains text by multiple scribes, their contributions tend to occupy different bifolios. In the past I think I've assumed this was a sign of bifolios being reshuffled at some point (since there's ample evidence of that happening in some cases): i.e., that Quire 4 contains a single Scribe 2 bifolio because that bifolio had originally been somewhere else. But the alternative idea that each bifolio was created separately, and that the results were subsequently assembled into quires, seems interesting, and I was curious to see if there were any other patterns (besides scribal attribution) that might point in this direction, or might shed further light on what was going on production-wise ("bifolio as a functional unit"?).
Here's one, perhaps: in both of the first two quires, strange alignments appear specifically on both recto pages of the outermost bifolio. In Quire 1, both 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. have the final words of all their paragraphs aligned to (or near) the right margin: four cases on f1r, three on f8r. In Quire 2, 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. each contain one paragraph starting with [p] that has a centered final line, along with one or two other paragraphs starting with [t] that don't. There are no other cases of similarly strange alignment to be found in either quire: just on the two recto pages of each outermost bifolio.
I think it's fair to hypothesize that pages with similarly strange alignment are somehow related to one another and that related pages are likely to have been written consecutively -- though of course neither point is guaranteed.
If so, that might suggest that:
1. The outermost bifolios of Quire 1 and Quire 2 were composed distinctly, in some sense, from the rest of their quires.
2. The recto pages of those two bifolios were also composed distinctly from the verso pages. (Note that the strange formatting of one recto page wouldn't have been visible as a model during the preparation of the other recto page.)
3. As bifolios were assembled into quires, somehow these two -- with similar characteristics -- both ended up on the outside of their quires, and right at the beginning of the quire sequence (or at least what's now the beginning).
If we follow this thread further into the manuscript, we continue to find other potentially interesting patterns in the locations of strangely-aligned text at the ends of paragraphs.
In Quires 3 and 4, each of the outer two or three bifolios contains one recto page with strange alignment, but alternating between the first and second recto page -- never both, and never the same one twice in a row. Then, further in towards the center of the quire, one additional bifolio in each of these quires instead displays strange alignment on one or both of its verso pages, rather than on a recto page.
Quire 3:
Quire 4:
In Quire 5, the outermost two bifolios each have one page with strange alignment (f40v, f39r), this time with the "inner" case being on the second recto page and the "outer" case being on the second verso page.
Quire 6 is trickier to assess. In the outermost bifolio, f48r has a centered final line that seems to be avoiding an illustration, but the preceding line is also centered in a way that the illustration wouldn't have required. The second bifolio in has strange alignment on both 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. -- it's unusual for "mixing" recto and verso. The third bifolio in has strange alignment on f46v, of a peculiar kind (the seventh line of the paragraph is split into two halves with a gap between, with the second half establishing the left margin for the rest of the paragraph -- partly to avoid an illustration, but that wouldn't explain what's happening in the seventh line specifically). If these cases all "count" as unusual alignment, then this quire would follow a pattern of alternation vaguely like that of Quires 3 and 4.
There's no similarly strange alignment in Quire 7. Quire 8 is missing its three inner bifolios but has strange alignment on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (a centered line at the end of one paragraph). That brings us to the end of the opening botanical section, which is as far as I'm going to go here.
Observations for Quires 1-8:
1. When a single bifolio contains two pages with strange alignment, they're always on opposite faces of the membrane (front/back), and they're usually on the same side (right or left), with the pairing f43r/f43v being the only exception to the latter rule. No bifolio has strange alignment on more than two of its pages, or on any two pages that would have been simultaneously visible during writing.
2. Within a quire, any verso pages with strange alignment usually appear further inward than any recto pages with strange alignment, with Quire 5 being the only exception (f39r is further inward than f40v).
3. Within a quire, two adjacent bifolios never contain a page with strange alignment in the same position (i.e., first recto, first verso, second recto, or second verso); and two pages with strange alignment never face one another.
4. Some of the bifolios with strange alignment are attributed to Scribe 1, and others to Scribe 2.
For the cases of "alternation" (e.g., the outer three bifolios of Quire 4), I wonder if there's any consistency as to whether the pages with strange alignment appear on the hair side or the flesh side of the vellum, and whether alternate bifolios might have been inverted to bring hair sides adjacent to hair sides and flesh sides adjacent to flesh sides. I understand it's a tough call to make as to which side is which, given how the vellum was prepared, but does anyone have any data about this?
Thanks for indulging this out-on-a-limb speculation -- I'm just trying to think of what other interesting consequences bifolio-level production might have had.
Here's one, perhaps: in both of the first two quires, strange alignments appear specifically on both recto pages of the outermost bifolio. In Quire 1, both 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. have the final words of all their paragraphs aligned to (or near) the right margin: four cases on f1r, three on f8r. In Quire 2, 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. each contain one paragraph starting with [p] that has a centered final line, along with one or two other paragraphs starting with [t] that don't. There are no other cases of similarly strange alignment to be found in either quire: just on the two recto pages of each outermost bifolio.
I think it's fair to hypothesize that pages with similarly strange alignment are somehow related to one another and that related pages are likely to have been written consecutively -- though of course neither point is guaranteed.
If so, that might suggest that:
1. The outermost bifolios of Quire 1 and Quire 2 were composed distinctly, in some sense, from the rest of their quires.
2. The recto pages of those two bifolios were also composed distinctly from the verso pages. (Note that the strange formatting of one recto page wouldn't have been visible as a model during the preparation of the other recto page.)
3. As bifolios were assembled into quires, somehow these two -- with similar characteristics -- both ended up on the outside of their quires, and right at the beginning of the quire sequence (or at least what's now the beginning).
If we follow this thread further into the manuscript, we continue to find other potentially interesting patterns in the locations of strangely-aligned text at the ends of paragraphs.
In Quires 3 and 4, each of the outer two or three bifolios contains one recto page with strange alignment, but alternating between the first and second recto page -- never both, and never the same one twice in a row. Then, further in towards the center of the quire, one additional bifolio in each of these quires instead displays strange alignment on one or both of its verso pages, rather than on a recto page.
Quire 3:
- [Alternating recto pages:]
- Outermost bifolio = You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / f24r / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
- Second bifolio in = f18r / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
- [Switch to verso:]
- Third bifolio in = You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / f19v / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / f22v
- Innermost bifolio = You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. [no strange alignment]
Quire 4:
- [Alternating recto pages:]
- Outermost bifolio = f25r / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
- Second bifolio in = You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / f31r / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
- Third bifolio in = f27r / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
- [Switch to verso:]
- Innermost bifolio = You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / f28v / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. / You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
In Quire 5, the outermost two bifolios each have one page with strange alignment (f40v, f39r), this time with the "inner" case being on the second recto page and the "outer" case being on the second verso page.
Quire 6 is trickier to assess. In the outermost bifolio, f48r has a centered final line that seems to be avoiding an illustration, but the preceding line is also centered in a way that the illustration wouldn't have required. The second bifolio in has strange alignment on both 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. -- it's unusual for "mixing" recto and verso. The third bifolio in has strange alignment on f46v, of a peculiar kind (the seventh line of the paragraph is split into two halves with a gap between, with the second half establishing the left margin for the rest of the paragraph -- partly to avoid an illustration, but that wouldn't explain what's happening in the seventh line specifically). If these cases all "count" as unusual alignment, then this quire would follow a pattern of alternation vaguely like that of Quires 3 and 4.
There's no similarly strange alignment in Quire 7. Quire 8 is missing its three inner bifolios but has strange alignment on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (a centered line at the end of one paragraph). That brings us to the end of the opening botanical section, which is as far as I'm going to go here.
Observations for Quires 1-8:
1. When a single bifolio contains two pages with strange alignment, they're always on opposite faces of the membrane (front/back), and they're usually on the same side (right or left), with the pairing f43r/f43v being the only exception to the latter rule. No bifolio has strange alignment on more than two of its pages, or on any two pages that would have been simultaneously visible during writing.
2. Within a quire, any verso pages with strange alignment usually appear further inward than any recto pages with strange alignment, with Quire 5 being the only exception (f39r is further inward than f40v).
3. Within a quire, two adjacent bifolios never contain a page with strange alignment in the same position (i.e., first recto, first verso, second recto, or second verso); and two pages with strange alignment never face one another.
4. Some of the bifolios with strange alignment are attributed to Scribe 1, and others to Scribe 2.
For the cases of "alternation" (e.g., the outer three bifolios of Quire 4), I wonder if there's any consistency as to whether the pages with strange alignment appear on the hair side or the flesh side of the vellum, and whether alternate bifolios might have been inverted to bring hair sides adjacent to hair sides and flesh sides adjacent to flesh sides. I understand it's a tough call to make as to which side is which, given how the vellum was prepared, but does anyone have any data about this?
Thanks for indulging this out-on-a-limb speculation -- I'm just trying to think of what other interesting consequences bifolio-level production might have had.