Speculative fraud hypothesis

[dexdex]

I agree with Rene that the MS is still too well-planned to have just been a con man's prop. Why would you need 100+ plant pages? Why the additional small plant images, and why the foldouts to accommodate them? Why the rosettes page, what's the added benefit?

IF this was made as a con artist's prop, then he must have had a very specific target and purpose in mind. But in that case, the manuscript's content is well considered and far from random. The specific needs of the high-value target must have influenced the way it is.

I don't think I agree. The profit motive is not really there, while a travelling quack hypothesis does explain that. It also explains the relative difference in quality between sections (herbal as the starting point made by an expert in herbals vs other sections as additions to make a more impressive and varied tome made with less knowledge of their respective genre of book). Foldouts are something really cool and unique to show off to potential marks after the 'content' of the words eludes them.

If it's a con artist's prop, the only sensible explanation to my mind is one where the process of creation was incremental, rather than pre-planned.

However, I agree with this, I think a non-hoax is overall more likely:

Everything considered, I still think this was made for the original makers or their own community (professional, cultural or monastic).

Still, the hypothetical incremental process of fraudulent creation is sensible, while it might imbue the manuscript with unique testable characteristics. I think it is worth speculating what these characteristics may be. As I mentioned, if the process of generation is more elaborate than a simple vocabulary generation + some simple method of mimicry of other documents of types corresponding to various books, that would all but falsify this hypothesis; other such characteristics might be some of the ideas I've mentioned in bulletpoints in previous posts. Considering what those characteristics might be, then, could be a decent way to reject or at least consider less likely the hoax hypothesis.

Edit: also, forgot to mention. Con artists sometimes have a 'favorite' scam they like to pull. It's conceivable that you would continue to put more care into a prop for a scam you really enjoy, especially if it's reusable, as the Voynich would be. It's far less sensible to make an entire book like this for a one-time scam, with no certainty to return on investment.