As you will see on the Analysis page, the C III is a complicated manuscript. Unlike other manuscripts where a modern adaptation or edition may simply be a translated version, the C III requires a little more thought.
First and foremost, one of the most important changes would be to separate the C III’s parts. While there may have once been a need for such a conglomeration, I doubt there are very few illustrated plant guides that also include the genealogy of Christ and part of a Roman holiday explanation. If there are, I have no idea who needs all of those things at the same time.
From there, I would handle each section differently.
For the genealogy of Christ, an infographic may be the best option for a new edition. This allows us to keep the charted aspects as well as the text, though probably shortened just a touch. If we were to keep this in the long and droning form it now has, we could easily present it as a theological resource.
For now, I will skip the Pharmacopoeia as it will be an involved process. Instead, we look next to the Saturnalia. Regrettably, the C III only has two of the seven parts of this work, so I would likely look to compare it to other copies. From there, I would either combine the version in the C III with others to create an entire collection with all seven pieces of the Saturnalia, or I would produce new copies of just the two present in the C III.
Next are William Harvey’s notes. The first step here is seeing if these notes have been overshadowed by new discoveries (which is likely since they come from the 17th century). If they are, I would want to use them as a sort of “history of modern medicine”, probably in collaboration with other texts. If not, his notes would make an excellent reference book for those in the medical field.
And finally, we come to the Pharmacopoeia. I would create an index using photographs in conjunction with labelled illustrations, likely in the form of a phone application. In this modern time of smartphones and tablets, it only makes sense to create an interactive guide to help identify plants in the wilderness.
Cotton MS Vitellius C III 