[Blog Post] Peter Bakker on the VMS

[MichelleL11]

Maybe the VMS is a draft copy of a manuscript that was eventually intended to be made into a more professional version and perhaps the actual text would be added when the final version was created.

Are there any other examples or precedents of this practice? It seems a bit far fetched, and I have seen several people commenting on it.

Yes, here's an example discussed in: 
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For example, Cosmas of Prague (d. 1125) wrote separate prefaces or dedications to the first two books of the Chronica Bohemorum, which he clearly circulated among friends before putting together the three libri of his chronicle.9


9 See Cosmas of Prague, Chronica Bohemorum. The Chronicle of the Czechs, J. M. Bak, P. Rychterová, eds. (Budapest–New York: CEU Press, 2017); see also Lisa Wolverton, Cosmas of Prague: Narrative, classicism, politics (Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2015)

Although I admit this seems more like"beta readers"at a time before copy machines than a full blown, non-final version.