Parchment scroll - sheet 7,8x11,8 inches
(Unit Price: 18,95 ¤ per page)
Parchment Scroll - Page
In the old Roman times this writing material was made of animal skin, also known as “membrana”. The actual name “Parchment” was found later in late antique times in sources by Edikt von Diokletian (VII38).
Parchment started competing with Papyrus about 400 A.D. and eventually took over papyrus. This happened especially because parchment was easier to produce since it was available nearly everywhere locally due to the simple raw materials needed. Papyrus on the other hand was a lot more difficult to produce and production availability was limited to plants that only grew in a few regions such as North Africa and Syria.
Parchment books
Therefore Parchment has been the new runner up in the book trade especially because it was easier to erase or “scratch off” any mistakes that were made while writing than on Papyrus.
The production of parchment happens in quite a few steps. The animal skin is placed in vats of lime. That’s where most of the hair detaches from the skin.
After that the skin is stretched in a size appropriate wooden frame and scrapped with a knife while still wet. Now all hair is completely gone and the surface can be smoothened to become a writable area. This process hasn’t changed in thousands of years and still remains the same today.
- Parchment Size: approx. 20 x 30 centimeters
- Real Parchment Page (animal skin)
