"Offsetting" is when some ink or paint from a page gets transferred to another page by contact. This webpage investigates cases of offsetting between the first and last pages of the quires.
Offsetting could happen when the ink or paint was still not completely dry, or (more often, apparently) when the paint became soft again because of spills.
Moved by the recent discussion, I went through all transitions between successive quires of the VMS looking for instances of "offsetting": paint or ink from one page that got transferred by contact to the facing page, that is, the page that is in contact with it when then book is closed and all fold-outs are folded in. In summary, there are clear instances of offsetting in almost all such quire transitions that still exist. However, they are not cases where the Painter closed the book or stacked quires with the paint still wet. In all cases the transfer clearly occurred some time after painting. In one case, water seeping between the pages softened some red paint, which then stuck to the facing page. In all other cases, there was no transfer of pigment. Rather, some component of the paint somehow transferred to the facing page. The most common type of offsetting is due to a certain dark blue-gray paint. The offsetted image is a light gray stain with sharp edges, but only along the edges of the painted source area, not in the interior. In one case, that smudge includes some dark particles. That blue-gray paint seems to be a mixture of some dark ingredient, which causes the stain, and a lighter and more vivid blue paint, which never stains. Maybe the grey component was deliquescent, or food for mold? A few other cases of offsetting are caused by other paints (red and vivid green). In these cases, the offsetted image is a very very light tan stain with fuzzy edges. In one case, the same blue-gray paint created two offsetted images, separated by ~8 mm. In another case, there the offsetted images are rotated relative to their expected position by about 30 degrees. The colors must have been applied when the manuscript was unbound -- a pile of bifolios -- since there are several examples where the painting extends into the binding gutter. Or beyond it, as in the well-known case of f78v and f81r. On the other hand, Rene reports that microscopic examination of f42 shows that at least some of the green paint was applied after the folio numbers were written. Hence after the bifolios were incorrectly folded and nested, including f78v and f81r. So, here is my guess for how the VMS we see today was created:
The Scribe(s) wrote the text on the parchment, and drew the outlines of the illustrations in the same ink with the same quills. The bifolios already had the future folds and were grouped into quires, but are still unbound. Each section was scribed in one or more episodes separated in time, possibly by several years. Cosmo and Zodiac were scribed in that order, before Bio. Pharma was scribed before Herbal. Otherwise the order of scribing of the sections is uncertain.
Decades later, the book, still a collection of unbound bifolios, was in possession of another owner, who could not read it and could not consult the Author. This person defined the ordering and nesting of the bifolios and the order of the quires, and wrote the folio numbers accordingly. At this point the incorrect shuffling and ordering of pages became crystallized. But he still kept the bifolios unbound.
The figures were painted. The Painter was careful to let the paint dry thoroughly before re-folding and re-stacking the folios.
The book, still unbound, was kept for a long time in a damp place. During this time some components of some paints migrated to the facing pages. Some quires were shifted once or twice during this time, so that the same painted area created two offset stains, or stains in "wrong" positions.
The book was bound, as per the written folio and quire numbers.
QUIRES 1 and 2 (f8v and f9r): Some red paint from f9r on the edge of the water stain at top left, left red spots on f8v. QUIRES 2 and 3 (f16v and f17r): Imprint of the right red flower of f16v. No transfer of pigment, but rather of some other component of the paint (e.g. binder) that left a very faint fuzzy tan smudge on f17r. There may also be imprints of the blue-gray flowers of f17r onto f16v, but they are hard to see among the clutter of the text.
QUIRES 3 and 4 (f24v and f25r): Maybe a very faint imprint of the bottom right leaf of f24v onto f25r, with no pigment transfer, only a very very faint tan smudge. If so, it is displaced by ~8 mm NE from the expected position.
QUIRES 4 and 5 (f32v and f33r): Offset of the right blue-gray flower of f32v (only?) onto f33r. As discussed above, no pygment, Only a gray smudge along the corolla's outline, and some dark gray-brown solid particles along the bottom edge of the corolla.
QUIRES 5 and 6 (f40v and f41r): Offset of the blue-gray paint (only?) from f40v to f41r. As discussed above. Notably, one of the blue areas created two imprints, displaced by ~8mm in the NE-SW direction. maybe also imprint of the leaves on left side of f41r onto f40v; again, not with any transfer of green pigment, just a very very faint and fuzzy tan smudge.
QUIRES 6 and 7 (f48v and f49r). Offset from the two blue-gray petals of the top left flower of f49r onto f48v, as discussed above. The pure royal blue petal left no imprint.
QUIRES 7 and 8 (f56v and f57r). Blue-gray petals on each page imprinted on the other page, as discussed above. No imprint of the pure blue petals.
QUIRES 8 and 9 (f66v and f67r1). Only the blue-grey corollas of flowers of f66v offsetted ontp f67r. The imprint of the right flower is near the expected place at coordinates A = [655,2166] on the BL 214 scan of f67r; but that of the left flower is out of place, at B = [1090,2530], as if f66v had been laid over f68r rotated by about 32 degrees CCW, around its point C = [2156,2156] (the right flower). As for the other direction, there are visible offset images of some of the blue-gray triangles of f67, mostly from the left side, onto f66v; but apparently with no relative rotation.
QUIRES 9 and 10 (f68v1 and f69r). Only those spokes and terminal "cups" of f69r that were painted in blue-gray left imprints on f68v1. There is also one light blue smudge with darker blue spots on f68v1, just outside the "windmill", at 12:00, below one of the seven stars in the 12:00 sector; but it does not seem to be an offset from f69r, rather an accident from the painting of f68v1, wth no corresponding stain on f69r. There may be offsets in the other direction, especially from the lue-gray windmill blade of f68v1 at 08:30 onto the innermost area of f69r, at 03:30, near the @l label. However any additional such offsets would be hard toidentify among the clutter of f69r.
QUIRES 10 and 11 (f70v1, Aries Dark, and f71r, Aries Light). No visible imprints. The blue-gray paint that is prone to creating offsets is not used in either page. There is some fairly pure blue on f71r, but apparently it did not offset. QURES 11 and 12 (f71v1 and f72r). No imprint. No blue-gray paint.
QUIRES 12 and 13: The transition would have been between f74v1 and f75r, but folio f74 is missing.
QUIRES 13 and 14 (f84v and f85r1). No imprint. No blue-gray paint.
QUIRES 14 and 15 (f86v3 and f87r). Imprints of the blue-gray petals of the left flower of f87r onto f86v3. Maybe also of the right flower, but very small and faint.
QUIRES 15 and 16: The transition from would have been from f92v to f93r, but folio f92 is missing.
QUIRES 16 and 17: The transition from would have been from f98v to f99r, but folio f98 is missing.
QUIRES 17 and 18 Quire 18 is mssing entirely.
QUIRES 18 and 19 Ditto.
QUIRES 19 and 20 (f102v1, Pharma, and f103r, Stars). Imprint ontp f103r from the blue-gray right ... duh ... leaf of plant 2 in the top row of f102v2. There may have been also an imprint from the left leaf of that plant. But the leaf was all but erased by the big goulash stain, and its imprint would have been inside the other side of that stain. There is another bit of blue-gray on f102v1, on the second jar from the top; but the imprint on f103r, if any, is not evident.
Last edited on 2025-10-27 11:06:53 by stolfi