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Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used aswriting material. It is often distinguished fromparchment, either by being made fromcalfskin (rather than the skin of other animals),[1] or simply by being of a higher quality.[2] Vellum is prepared for writing and printing on single pages,scrolls, andcodices (books).
Modern scholars and experts often prefer to use the broader term "membrane", which avoids the need to draw a distinction between vellum and parchment.[2][3]: 9–10 It may be very hard to determine the animal species involved (let alone its age) without detailed scientific analysis.[4]
Vellum is generally smooth and durable, but there are great variations in its texture which are affected by the way it is made and the quality of the skin. The making involves the cleaning, bleaching, stretching on a frame (a "herse"), and scraping of the skin with a crescent-shaped knife (a "lunarium" or "lunellum"). To create tension, the process goes back and forth between scraping, wetting and drying. Scratching the surface withpumice, and treating with lime or chalk to make it suitable for writing or printing ink can create a final look.[1]
Modern "paper vellum" is made of plant cellulose fibers and gets its name from its similar usage to actual vellum, as well as its high quality. It is used for a variety of purposes including tracing, technical drawings, plans andblueprints.Tracing paper is essentially the same thing, though the quality level differs, sometimes greatly.[5][6][7]
ThoughChristopher de Hamel, an expert on medieval manuscripts, writes that "for most purposes the words parchment and vellum are interchangeable",[8] a number of distinctions have been made in the past and present.
The word "vellum" is borrowed fromOld Frenchvélin 'calfskin', derived in turn from theLatin wordvitulinum 'made from calf'.[9] However, in Europe, from Roman times, the word was used for the best quality of prepared skin, regardless of the animal from which the hide was obtained.Calf,sheep, andgoat were all commonly used, and other animals, including pig, deer, donkey, horse, or camel were used on occasion. The best quality, "uterine vellum",[10] was said to be made from the skins ofstillborn or unborn animals, although the term was also applied to fine quality skins made from young animals.[2] However, there has long been much blurring of the boundaries between these terms. In 1519,William Horman could write in hisVulgaria: "That stouffe that we wrytte upon, and is made of beestis skynnes, is somtyme called parchement, somtyme velem, somtyme abortyve, somtyme membraan."[11] Writing in 1936, Lee Ustick explained that:
To-day the distinction, among collectors of manuscripts, is thatvellum is a highly refined form of skin,parchment a cruder form, usually thick, harsh, less highly polished than vellum, but with no distinction between skin of calf, or sheep, or of goat.[12]
French sources, closer to the original etymology, tend to definevelin as from calf only, while theBritish Standards Institution defines parchment as made from the split skin of several species, and vellum from the unsplit skin.[13] In the usage of modern practitioners of the artistic crafts of writing, illuminating, lettering, and bookbinding, "vellum" is normally reserved for calfskin, while any other skin is called "parchment".[14]
Vellum allows some light to pass through it. It is made from the skin of a young animal. The skin is washed with water and lime (calcium hydroxide), and then soaked in lime for several days to soften and remove the hair.[15]Once clear, the two sides of the skin are distinct: the body side and the hairy side. The "inside body side" of the skin is usually the lighter and more refined of the two.
The hair follicles may be visible on the outer side, together with any scars from when the animal was alive. The membrane can also show the pattern of the animal's vein network called the "veining" of the sheet.[16]
Any remaining hair is removed ("scudding") and to dry it out the skin is attached to a frame (a "herse")[3]: 11 at points around the edge with cords, which is then wrapped by the part next to these points around a pebble (a "pippin").[3]: 11 The skin is then cleaned with a crescent-shaped knife, (a "lunarium" or "lunellum") removing any remaining hairs.
The skin is thoroughly cleaned and processed into sheets once it is completely dry. Many sheets can be extracted from a single piece of skin. The number of sheets depends on the size of the skin and the required length and breadth of each individual sheet. For example, the average calfskin could provide roughly three and a half medium sheets of writing material. Sheet amount can be doubled by folding the skin into two conjoined leaves, also known as a bifolium. Historians have found evidence of manuscripts where the scribe wrote down the medieval instructions, which is now followed by modern vellum makers.[17] The makers rubbed the sheets with a round, flat object ("pouncing") to ensure that the ink would adhere to the surface.[16] Even so, some types of ink would gradually flake off as the membrane was folded, rolled, or rubbed.[citation needed]
Once the vellum is prepared, traditionally aquire is formed of a group of several sheets. Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham point out, in theirIntroduction to Manuscript Studies, that "the quire was the scribe's basic writing unit throughout the Middle Ages".[3]: 14 Guidelines are then made on the membrane. They note"'pricking' is the process of making holes in a sheet of parchment (or membrane) in preparation of its ruling. The lines were then made by ruling between the prick marks ...The process of entering ruled lines on the page to serve as a guide for entering text. Most manuscripts were ruled with horizontal lines that served as the baselines on which the text was entered and with vertical bounding lines that marked the boundaries of the columns".[3]: 15–17
Most of the finer sort of medieval manuscripts, whetherilluminated or not, were written on vellum. SomeGandhāran Buddhist texts were written on vellum, and allSifrei Torah (Hebrew: ספר תורה Sefer Torah; plural: ספרי תורה, Sifrei Torah) are written onkosherklaf or vellum.
A quarter of the 180-copy edition ofJohannes Gutenberg's firstBible printed in 1455 withmovable type was also printed on vellum, presumably because his market expected this for a high-quality book. Paper was used for most book-printing, as it was cheaper and easier to process through aprinting press and tobind. The twelfth-centuryWinchester Bible was also written on approximately 250 calfskins.
In art, vellum was used for paintings, especially if they needed to be sent long distances, beforecanvas became widely used in about 1500, and continued to be used for drawings, andwatercolours.Old master prints were sometimes printed on vellum, especially for presentation copies, until at least the seventeenth century.
Limp vellum or limp-parchment bindings were used frequently in the 16th and 17th centuries, and were sometimesgilt but were also often notembellished. In later centuries vellum has been more commonly used like leather, that is, as the covering for stiff board bindings. Vellum can be stained virtually any color but seldom is, as a great part of its beauty and appeal rests in its faint grain and hair markings, as well as its warmth and simplicity.
Lasting in excess of 1,000 years—for example,Pastoral Care (Troyes, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 504), dates from about 600 and is in excellent condition—animal vellum can be far more durable than paper. For this reason, many important documents are written on animal vellum, such as diplomas. Referring to a diploma as a "sheepskin" alludes to the time when diplomas were written on vellum made from animal hides.
BritishActs of Parliament are still printed on vellum for archival purposes,[18] as are those of theRepublic of Ireland.[19] In February 2016, the UKHouse of Lords announced that legislation would be printed onarchival paper instead of the traditional vellum from April 2016.[20] However,Cabinet Office MinisterMatthew Hancock intervened by agreeing to fund the continued use of vellum from theCabinet Office budget.[21] On 2017, the House of Commons Commission agreed that it would provide front and back vellum covers for record copies of Acts.[22]
Today, because of low demand and complicated manufacturing process, animal vellum is expensive and hard to find.[23] The only UK company still producing traditional parchment and vellum is William Cowley (established 1870), which is based inNewport Pagnell,Buckinghamshire. A modern imitation is made ofcotton. Known as paper vellum, this material is considerably cheaper than animal vellum and can be found in most art and drafting supply stores. Some brands ofwriting paper and other sorts of paper use the term "vellum" to suggest quality.
Vellum is still used for Jewish scrolls, of theTorah in particular, for luxurybookbinding, memorial books, and for various documents incalligraphy. It is also used on instruments such as thebanjo and thebodhran, although synthetic skins are available for these instruments and have become more commonly used.
TheCatholic Church still issues itsdecrees anddiplomas for its officials on vellum.
Vellum is ideally stored in a stable environment with constant temperature and 30% (± 5%)relative humidity. If vellum is stored in an environment with less than 11% relative humidity, it becomes fragile, and vulnerable tomechanical stresses. However, if it is stored in an environment with greater than 40% relative humidity, it becomes vulnerable togelation and tomould orfungus growth.[24] The optimal relative humidity for proper storage of vellum does not overlap that of paper, which poses a challenge for libraries.[25] The optimal temperature for the keeping of vellum is approximately 20 °C (68 °F).[26]
Acts of Parliament dating back to 1497 recorded on vellum are currently held in the House of Lords Public Record Office
Once a Bill has been passed by both Houses, the Taoiseach presents a vellum copy of the Bill, prepared in the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas to the President for signature and promulgation as law.
Mr Hancock told The Daily Telegraph: 'Recording our laws on vellum is a millennium long tradition, and surprisingly cost effective. While the world around us constantly changes, we should safeguard some of our great traditions and not let the use of vellum die out.'
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