Daniel Briggs > 03-04-2017, 01:42 AM
ReneZ > 03-04-2017, 07:29 AM
Diane > 05-04-2017, 11:03 AM
-JKP- > 05-04-2017, 11:14 AM
(05-04-2017, 11:03 AM)Diane Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The Poggio scenario has been around for years.
What we are given is an internally-consistent narrative, and one consistent with various other wished-for outcomes.
What I've yet to see is anything remotely relevant to our understanding of the content in a single folio. Basically we end up (as has happened time out of mind) with
A. the manuscript.
B. the story.
Then you get a third phase where people try to impose the story onto the manuscript.
Here are some basic questions: how many languages did Poggio Bracciolini read, write and/or speak (anyone can copy a Greek text).
He could read and write several languages. In addition to being a copyist/calligrapher, he was a translator, although the impression I get is that most of his projects involved translating from Latin. Much of his history is known, including his whereabouts at particular times, and also some information on which projects he was working on at those times.
Have we any evidence that Poggio ever wrote texts that were intended to be incomprehensible?
I don't know about incomprehensible texts. He had many legitimate contracts. He was also a writer. He was not just a book collector, he was a busy copyist/translator. Part of his passion for collecting books came from a desire to translate rare texts that weren't easily available, to earn extra cash. Apparently he was ambitious for a higher standard of living (this is known from his letters to his friends) so who knows, maybe he would be open to writing something "incomprehensible" on the side (as per the secret project that he was discussing in his correspondence with colleagues) but whether he would actually do it? There is still debate about whether a specific set of books is legit or forged. Perhaps he forged other things that have not been linked to him.
As I said up-thread, I doubt if his hand is in the VMS, but that doesn't mean he or his compatriots weren't linked to it in some way. We don't know. He knew people all over the continent. There's evidence that quite a few herbal manuscripts (and other kinds of manuscripts) were left unfinished, some had only pictures, then labels (or labels and text) have been added by other hands. I get the feeling there's a connection between the VMS text and the illustrations but... the possibility remains open that someone drew it and someone else picked it up and added the "text".
Daniel Briggs > 08-04-2017, 05:52 PM
Diane > 08-05-2017, 05:35 PM
Quote:I don't know about incomprehensible texts. He had many legitimate contracts. He was also a writer. He was not just a book collector, he was a busy copyist/translator. Part of his passion for collecting books came from a desire to translate rare texts that weren't easily available, to earn extra cash. Apparently he was ambitious for a higher standard of living (this is known from his letters to his friends) so who knows, maybe he would be open to writing something "incomprehensible" on the side (as per the secret project that he was discussing in his correspondence with colleagues) but whether he would actually do it? There is still debate about whether a specific set of books is legit or forged. Perhaps he forged other things that have not been linked to him.
As I said up-thread, I doubt if his hand is in the VMS, but that doesn't mean he or his compatriots weren't linked to it in some way. We don't know. He knew people all over the continent. There's evidence that quite a few herbal manuscripts (and other kinds of manuscripts) were left unfinished, some had only pictures, then labels (or labels and text) have been added by other hands. I get the feeling there's a connection between the VMS text and the illustrations but... the possibility remains open that someone drew it and someone else picked it up and added the "text".