March
02
/ 2017
Even though paper would eventually come to be more popular, parchment was the preferred material for book making, and eventually printing, throughout the middle ages. Parchment, used before the rise of paper between the 5th and 13th centuries, is made from the thin membranes of the flesh of an animal, typically a cow or sheep. It is quite difficult to produce; thus, it is expensive. Only the very wealthy could afford good parchment - leaving the torn or imperfect parchment to lower classes. However, bad skin used in the parchment making process can tell historians something about who owned, read, and stored a text. Four Grades of Parchment Typically, more expensive manuscripts would have had more lavish illustrations, and they
