31-10-2023, 12:37 PM
Yeah so this manuscript, though certainly interesting for its images, is not a really good match layout-wise. It is part of categories (2) and (3) I outlined in the first post.
Marco explained (2) already. The MS is clearly going for a certain layout esthetic, whereby you have two text blocks on both sides of the root. Sometimes it even looks like they put some thought into this while drawing the root, for example in the following image, where the root forms a nice text frame:
![[Image: unspecified-manuscript-italy-15th-centur..._DklpPil0=]](https://media.gettyimages.com/id/122218195/it/foto/unspecified-manuscript-italy-15th-century-herbal-from-trento-plate-antolas-lupanas-herb-to-cure.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=W_1TJupbRiRZiYHUWw0Bv7DpAd6m-gdIps_DklpPil0=)
It also follows a different fill-up strategy than the VM: as soon as the text runs into the image, it stops. The VM will often allow the text to fill up gaps in the image.
As for (3), this is more about where the text starts. In the Trento Herbal, like many others, the text prefers to be around the root. With relatively narrow roots, it starts around the level where the ground would be. When the root has a broader upper part, it starts lower. One exception I see in the images Marco linked is the Chamomile of f43r, where the text sits around the lower stem. This is something we can also find in the VM. In all other folios I can see here, the Trento herbal uses soil text.
If you feel like this is all a bit arbitrary, please do the exercise for yourself, and you will notice the difference. Go through the VM large plant folios, and see where the text starts.
The rules are generally as follows:
- Allow for a top margin; the image may break through this margin, but the text does not like to start all the way at the top of the page.
- Having taken the margin into account, start as high as possible, unless...
- If the top part of the plant is particularly wide, prefer to start lower instead.
- Avoid the roots. There are only a few semi-exceptions to this rule. Of course, it may be that this rule is just a consequence of the preceding ones, not an active desire to avoid the roots.
When there are multiple text blocks, they may leave a gap between them, preferring to avoid wide parts of the drawing. Text blocks like to be around relatively narrow parts of the drawing.
Marco explained (2) already. The MS is clearly going for a certain layout esthetic, whereby you have two text blocks on both sides of the root. Sometimes it even looks like they put some thought into this while drawing the root, for example in the following image, where the root forms a nice text frame:
It also follows a different fill-up strategy than the VM: as soon as the text runs into the image, it stops. The VM will often allow the text to fill up gaps in the image.
As for (3), this is more about where the text starts. In the Trento Herbal, like many others, the text prefers to be around the root. With relatively narrow roots, it starts around the level where the ground would be. When the root has a broader upper part, it starts lower. One exception I see in the images Marco linked is the Chamomile of f43r, where the text sits around the lower stem. This is something we can also find in the VM. In all other folios I can see here, the Trento herbal uses soil text.
If you feel like this is all a bit arbitrary, please do the exercise for yourself, and you will notice the difference. Go through the VM large plant folios, and see where the text starts.
The rules are generally as follows:
- Allow for a top margin; the image may break through this margin, but the text does not like to start all the way at the top of the page.
- Having taken the margin into account, start as high as possible, unless...
- If the top part of the plant is particularly wide, prefer to start lower instead.
- Avoid the roots. There are only a few semi-exceptions to this rule. Of course, it may be that this rule is just a consequence of the preceding ones, not an active desire to avoid the roots.
When there are multiple text blocks, they may leave a gap between them, preferring to avoid wide parts of the drawing. Text blocks like to be around relatively narrow parts of the drawing.
![[+]](https://www.voynich.ninja/images/collapse_collapsed.png)