20-03-2026, 05:58 PM
(This post was last modified: 20-03-2026, 06:03 PM by Bluetoes101.)
I've said elsewhere that I like this sort of idea, so I've thought about it a bit over time.
There are some sticking points I think,
"- It was made by several people (5 scribes hypothesis by Lisa Fagin Davis)
- It is cheap, low quality product. Made on cheap parchment, illustrated with poor pictures, having cheap paints, the writing is the best of it"
I don't think you can have "cheap" and "5 scribes", I would think labour costs would make the actual cost above that of a buying a book that would work to the same effect, at least pretty close to and you wouldn't have to spend all the time making it.
It might be that is was a bespoke item that had to be "just so" for the "client" so any old book wouldn't do for the planned ruse, though then "bespoke" isn't cheap.
Maybe the labour was free as everyone was "in on it" but then that doesn't match very well to "wandering charlatan".
I do still think it is one of the better proposed possibilities. I guess it would be more compelling if we knew of other "fake" books used to sell things written in an unknown language etc
Edit - You can get around some of these problems by saying maybe it was made for a shop by the family that owned it, or alike, though obviously it's still just chucking darts at a dartboard without others to compare.
There are some sticking points I think,
"- It was made by several people (5 scribes hypothesis by Lisa Fagin Davis)
- It is cheap, low quality product. Made on cheap parchment, illustrated with poor pictures, having cheap paints, the writing is the best of it"
I don't think you can have "cheap" and "5 scribes", I would think labour costs would make the actual cost above that of a buying a book that would work to the same effect, at least pretty close to and you wouldn't have to spend all the time making it.
It might be that is was a bespoke item that had to be "just so" for the "client" so any old book wouldn't do for the planned ruse, though then "bespoke" isn't cheap.
Maybe the labour was free as everyone was "in on it" but then that doesn't match very well to "wandering charlatan".
I do still think it is one of the better proposed possibilities. I guess it would be more compelling if we knew of other "fake" books used to sell things written in an unknown language etc
Edit - You can get around some of these problems by saying maybe it was made for a shop by the family that owned it, or alike, though obviously it's still just chucking darts at a dartboard without others to compare.