You can commission works in a number of ways- if you wish to own the rights of cow and calf they will generally cost 20x the usual price. If they retain cow and calf (or if the redcaps get cow and calf) then it is only about twice teh usual price for a commission.
In terms of quantities the writing would be spread amongst the entire order.
Lab texts from previously published Folios (aka the spells in the books) are available to be copied at Harco on the same basis as the summae which are there, or may be purchased (pay a redcap-hired scribe to make a copy for you) at 1 pawn for every 60 spell levels.
Hmmm, the cow and calf part confuse me, a good tractatus would cost 2x20=40 pawns of vis?
There is some perplexity about such a large order, especially as regards the quality of the books obtained, so Aurthor suggests for now a preliminary order of lab texts for common spells, we should get 1200 magnitudo of spells with an expense of 100 vis for account (the magi could indicate which spells they want most and Aurthor eventually fill the rest of the order).
raccoonmask Aurthor moreover asks to Oliverius if he is willing to craft a new "Bane of Hungry Flames" for a future expansion of the library, what would be the quantity of vis needed?
The Cow and Calf Oath is the policy among the Order of Hermes that prevents covenants from reproducing books for sale that they purchase from another author. ie, if we buy a book from ABC, we can't then make six copies and sell them without permission from ABC. If we purchase the Cow and Calf rights, the books we purchase are ours to reproduce and resell as much as we desire. If we pay someone to write the book but let them retain the Cow and calf, they can make copies to sell but we cannot.
Oliverius assures you he will be working on more Bane of Hungry Flames soon; Not only can he make another room-sized protection, but he is looking into making a structure-sized protection if the library would prefer that. It may be a year or two, however.
Hi, silveroak:
Andros will direct Lucio to commission an Excellent suit of Chain mail for himself, and an Excellent Greatsword. Unclear if these can be made in the Covenant, but the craftsmen are really good, so definitely a possibility. He will also ask for a Superior leather sash with pouches (or similar), something akin to Chewbacca's bandoleer or Batman's utility belt.
(Hi, raccoonmask: Andros will see if Oliverius is at all amenable to turning either/both sword and armor into an Item of Quality, and his rates. If not, he will quest to find another Verditius that might take this on.)
Privately, he will confer with Danaë for her to bargain with the Weavers: he wishes to commission an Excellent cloak, with a number of specifications I am still thinking on. This will be his Talisman, but he prefers if either of the other items are thought to be his actual Talisman. The Weavers are top of the line, but he wants a team effort and for them to not speak about it, and knows Danaë is overwhelmingly charismatic towards people with magic abilities (which they have demonstrated previously). It would also be fantastic if this could become an Item of Quality, remains to be seen.
He will ask to buy several Objects of Virtue from the Praesidium that have been obtained in adventures (which he was the one to obtain, anyway!): Clam Shell, Topaz, Mercury of Virtue, Basalt of Virtue, Granite of Virtue. These were costed at 1 per 3 pawns of vis. He will offer 15 pawns of Ignem vis, of which the Praesidium has low stores.
In checking the inventory it turns out Edith the weaver has already enriched the granite of virtue- it provides a -1 on aging rolls and she has been using it for such. It is, of course, not bound to her and can be used, already enriched, by any magi.
Well, that doesn't work at all for the reckless Andros!(Magi cannot use Enriched Objects of Virtue because of their Magic Resistance, except if they enrich the object themselves and make it part of their Talisman, which also helps them to avoid the subsequent Warping, p.125 insert in RoP: Magic)
Andros will be furious at what he sees is a blatant theft, as Objects of Virtue contain vis, and that was Covenant property! He himself was willing to compensate for purchasing this Object from the Covenant, so unless Edith paid in some appropriate way, which was certainly not brought up to the Council, he will consider her a common thief. Did Edith just wander into whatever the Magi have as a vault and pick that out for herself? What else is missing? What does Lucio have to say about this? Full audit! 
Andros will take this grave matter to the Council, demanding changes in policy, and if necessary, punishment for those responsible.
*This is certainly something that the Council has not set guidelines for, we haven't a Magus in charge of the disbursement or the accounting, and the Covenant's security is very, very bad (hehehe, looking at Parma Magica and Infernal Lore books al well, we probably have an Infernal coven in our midst and who knows what else 
).
Lucio conducts an investigation and it turns out that Edith simply told the person in charge that she was examining the piece of granite to develop her abilities in Magic Lorre, then quietly enriched it and kept hold of it. She in fact is a member of a coven of sorts- the weavers have a "wise women" council based largely on their ability to make wonderous items in the crafts sense rather than the Hermetic, and it is not, to anyone's knowledge, infernal. However in the process of the investigation Hermagoras mentions some people coming in to read books on infernal lore whose motives at the time he had cause to worry about. One seems to have taken a different path since then, the other he is still uncertain of what her intentions might be- namely Giona.
economics report for 1136
beginning silver: 53 1/4 tonnes
income: 6 3/5 tonnes
expenses: 1/4 tonne
final inventory: 59 4/7 tonnes
Given that the issue of what to do with the vast accumulating sums in the covenant's cellar has been raised repeatedly, Lucio presents two alternatives- the first is charity- in particular he recommends establishing a convalescence home for injured conscripts (nobles being self supporting), and recommends that a minimum of 1/36 of each years profits (this year would be 6 1/3 tonnes of silver) be dedicated to this project, perhaps with a larger initial investment.
The second option he proposes is commodity speculation, with a third option to be an economic partnership with the redcap attachment to invest in trading missions.
He also wishes to know if the excess labors of any of the covenant grogs should be contributed towards any of these.
Oliverius certainly loves being commissioned for work. He is always tentative on weapons and armor, and this is made worse by the fact he doesn't have the Items of Quality virtue. He would gladly suggest to Andros a few Verditius he can speak to (using his Lore), and will point Andros in the right direction JUST TO ENSURE he doesn't talk to Oliverius's grudge-rival.
Oliverius is also going to show off his new epic hammer to Andros, considering he spent three plus years making it.
Added note for silveroak, due to the player's math error, I overspent by a single corpus vis on my crafting (so many numbers) and he traded in 2 vis of account to get the lack.
Oh! Thought Oliverius had that Mystery. He will be grateful if the Verditius can point him to another trusty fellow crafter.
After learning of the hammer's capabilities, Andros will be suitably impressed, and will praise Oliverius's genius at crafting and at teaching (as Arduino is now a full magus).
Andros supports the charity for injured soldiers/conscripts, Danaë supports all 3 (why not!), Gloriana might support the charity if Evandrus's name can be attached somewhere.
Andros will be implacable; he will ask Julien the ex autocrat and Lady A to aid in pursuing this investigation, and will speak with Anna, as she is the Magus most well-versed in these matters. He will interrogate Hermagoras, Lucio, Edith, and whoever "One seems to have taken a different path since then" is, with Posing the Silent Question and Frosty Breath of the Spoken Lie, and Lady A's Sense Unholiness and high Folk Ken. And he will speak to the ghost of the library to see if their stories check out. If he needs to declare a quest for this he will! His concern is the security of the Covenant and access to Infernal Lore and Parma Magica books ; he wasn't that concerned about the Infernal, but now he is, and he does not know much about it.
He manages to root out that for a few years Al Ahzim was developing a fascination with the infernal, but never got around to actually studying it- it was following Pelagrin's "promotion" to herbalist when he had been trying to convince the autocrat to allow him to have a philosophical laboratory and saw his dreams vanish due to herbalism being a cheaper path (which did not require a lab). However he has long since abandoned those thoughts in favor of establishing a reputation for himself as an author of medical and Hyperborean texts. His attitude was noticed y Hermagoras during that period however despite not ever selecting those books. Benjamin the Illuminator has checked out books on the infernal, but this appears to be a matter of "know your enemy" as he is informally the religious expert for the covenant's Jewish community.
As to Giona, she trained for years to become a knight, but her low dexterity made this dream an impossibility despite her intense training. She was assigned to learn fishing, which has brought her little recognition, in hopes that she would write books to make the industry a more integrated part of the covenant cost savings plans, but has generally felt overlooked and was looking into the possibility of an infernal rite to help her exceed her innate abilities. She has studied infernal lore for a few seasons but she still feels on the fence about actually using that knowledge.
News of 1136:
Roger II has suffered setbacks as Lothair, presumptive Holy Roman Emporer has led the invasion of Salerno in Campania, north of Calabria. Meanwhile Excelentus of Jerbiton has responded to the Covenant of Rome's request to declare the order for Anacletus by requesting that the order within the Roman Tribunal declare for innocent II and the proposal has been added to the agenda for the 1137 tribunal meeting in June.
A very nervous and uneasy Ardunino presents himself at the council meeting as a new full fledged Verditius magus:
"Sodales, I am in front of this illustrious council to officially request to become a member of this powerful covenant." After a moment of silence "I am sure I can contribuite significally for the well-being of Praesidium Orae with my magical Art, thanks to the rigorous teachings of my master Oliverius ex Verditius"
Aurthor and Arduino (if he is already accepted as a new council member at the time of this discussion) vote yes for all three proposals.
Aw, dang. Player forgot to make his post about this. Does he have a new hermetic name, or is he staying with Arduino?
Oliverius quietly mutters to himself, making a few shorthand notations on a wax tablet before speaking up. "This is my -former- apprentice, whom you all know by now. He has been a skilled aid and canny student, and has proven himself a capable Verditius in his own right, now a full member of the Order of Hermes. If he seeks to set his forge down here in the covenant which has raised him, I can only believe it will continue to be an aid to have him working alongside us."
I thought about changing his name, but in the end I will keep Arduino for simplicity, we have a lot of magi and companions (and grogs!) I want to avoid any possible confusion.
in 1137 Guilliam the vintner has a health crisis: CrCo 25 ritual or sta roll of 6+ to survive. He is 61 years old.