The value of imperfection

[Helmut Winkler]

> a "composite manuscript"

Does "bookbinders synthesis" meet "Buchbindersynthese"? I'm slightly uncertain. Something that would be noticeable, though.

 This is correct. The 'Buchbinder' could have been the author or a later owner, of course

How does this square with the decorative motifs that recur in different sections?

That the VMs is a composite ms. does not necessarily mean it is by different authors, I am convinced there is only one author (and only one hand). I think there were notes by on author about different subjects which were bound together at some time. He used glyphes  like the gallows again and again, whatever meaning they may have.