Single Leg Gallows

[Jorge_Stolfi]

To understand the purpose of this manuscript we need instead to look at what is logical, possible, probable, plausible. [...] An artificial construction fraudulently created to sell on the market for a fortune in florins - plausible and simple.

One objection to this theory is that the VMS is not the kind of book that a scammer would create for that purpose.  To maximize the price and demand, he would have added some recognizable elements, like alchemical symbols, or pictures suggesting that the texts are recipes for long life, virility, hair restoration, ...

And the author would also have invested more in the aesthetics.  Like using only good whole sheets of vellum, line guiding rules, carefully drawn figures, carefully applied paint...

An art forger will try to paint a picture that could pass for the work of a famous painter.  Not a picture that looks like the work of an illiterate lunatic that no one has heard about...

However, I myself believe that the Herbal section may indeed be a late addition, created by the Author in order to "monetize" the VMs -- by recasting the Pharma section into the popular Herbal format, with most of the plant drawings invented from scratch.  Perhaps that section alone was meant to be sold or gifted, separated from the rest of the VMs.   But in this case, why keep the original language, and not translate it into Latin?  

All the best, --jorge