Paper and Parchment Making

De Hamel, Christopher. "Paper and Parchment Makers." Scribes and Illuminators. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992.

"Parchment is made from the skin of an animal" (8).

"In normal usage, the terms 'parchment' and 'vellum' are interchangeable" (8).

Pergamenum (i.e. parchment) "derives its name from the city of Pergamum, whose ancient King Eumenes II is said by Pliny to have invented it in the second century BC during a trade blockade on papyrus" (8).

"Old-fashioned books about medieval manuscripts assert that the finest medieval parchment was made from the skin of aborted calves..." (16).

"Not all medieval manuscripts were written on parchment. The Middle Ages opened with a long legacy of papyrus book production, and this fragile Egyptian reed material lingered on in occasional use until the seventh or even eighth century" (16).

"The smaller the book, the more elaborately it was ruled" (20).

"Splendidly illuminated manuscripts have grids of guide lines" (22).

Parchment making was a long complicated process. The animal skin, the most common skin being that of a sheep, had to be bathed, rubbed, dried, stretched, and chalked before any writing could be done. The whole process would take the animal skin and transform it into a "clean white suitable" piece of material (8).

The process began by selecting a good piece of skin; one without disease, tears, or ticks. Once a piece of skin was chosen it was soaked in a tub full of lime and water for about three to ten days. This would loosen the hair and flesh from both sides of the skin. The percamenarius, parchment-maker, would then lay the skin over a curved piece of wood and scrape at the skin with a knife. The skin was then dried, stretched, and tightened. All three actions required the skin to be hung from clips and stretched out by turning knobs attached to the clips. Stretching the skin would sometimes create holes in the skin where it was weak or previously torn. Once the skin was dry, a crescent knife was used to rid the skin of any excess flesh and hair. The amount of scraping depended on the finesses of the parchment. Once this was completed the skin, or should it know be referred to as a parchment, was rolled up and put on the shelf to be sold (8-12).