Just a late night thought.
Egerton 1821 really isn't an expensive book. It is a parchment codex (rather then velum), It's definitively velum extremely small, and has woodcuts (rather than hand painted images). I'm uncertain how valuable red paint/ink was during this period, but I conject that one of the reasons for adding so much blood to this book and painting the woodcuts could be to increase its perceived value without actually spending that much money.
In a way it's like adding a loud muffler to a Hyundai civic: in the end it is still a cheap car, but at least it sounds cool... Except this Hyundai has extreme religious significance and meditative utility which are things you can't really put a price on.
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