Editing Parchment (section)

== Parchment and vellum ==
Today the term ''parchment'' is often used in non-technical contexts to refer to any animal skin, particularly [[goat]], [[sheep]] or [[cow]], that has been scraped or dried under tension. The term originally referred only to the skin of sheep and, occasionally, goats. The equivalent material made from calfskin, which was of finer quality, was known as ''[[vellum]]''<ref name="York-2017">{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/975367720 |title=The Bible Illuminated: How Art Brought the Bible to an Illiterate World |date=2017 |publisher=Museum of the Bible Books |editor-first=Karen |editor-last=York |isbn=978-1-945470-12-7 |location=Franklin, TN |pages=5 |oclc=975367720}}</ref> (from the [[Old French]] {{Lang|fro|velin}} or {{Lang|fro|vellin}}, and ultimately from the [[Latin]] {{Lang|la|vitulus}}, meaning a calf);<ref>{{cite book|last=Thomson|first=Roy|title=Conservation of Leather and Related Materials |year=2007 |publisher=Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann|location=Amsterdam|isbn=978-0-7506-4881-3|edition=Repr}}</ref> whilst the finest of all was ''uterine vellum'', taken from a calf [[foetus]] or [[stillbirth|stillborn]] calf.

Some authorities have sought to observe these distinctions strictly: for example [[lexicographer]] [[Samuel Johnson]] in 1755 and master [[calligrapher]] [[Edward Johnston]] in 1906.<ref>{{cite book |first=Edward |last=Johnston |author-link=Edward Johnston |year=1906 |title=Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering |url=https://archive.org/details/writingillumina00john |place=London |publisher=John Hogg }}</ref> However when old books and documents are encountered it may be difficult, without scientific analysis, to determine the precise animal origin of a skin, either in terms of its species or in terms of the animal's age.<ref>{{cite book |first=Anthony |last=Cains |chapter=The surface examination of skin: a binder's note on the identification of animal species used in the making of parchment |title=The Book of Kells: proceedings of a conference at Trinity College Dublin, 6–9 September 1992 |editor-first=Felicity |editor-last=O'Mahony |publisher=Scolar Press |place=Aldershot |year=1994 |isbn=0-85967-967-5 |pages=172–4 }}</ref> In practice therefore there has long been considerable blurring of the boundaries between the different terms. In 1519 [[William Horman]] wrote in his ''Vulgaria'': "That {{Not a typo|stouffe}} that we {{Not a typo|wrytte}} upon, and is made of {{Not a typo|beestis}} {{Not a typo|skynnes}}, is {{Not a typo|somtyme}} called {{Not a typo|parchement}}, {{Not a typo|somtyme}} {{Not a typo|velem}}, {{Not a typo|somtyme}} {{Not a typo|abortyve}}, {{Not a typo|somtyme}} {{Not a typo|membraan}}."<ref>William Horman, ''Vulgaria'' (1519), fol. 80v; cited in {{harvnb|Ustick|1936|p=440}}</ref> In [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Hamlet]]'' (written {{c.}}1599–1602) the following exchange occurs:
{{blockquote|''Hamlet.'' Is not parchment made of sheepskins?<br />
''Horatio.'' Ay, my lord, and of calves' skins too.<ref>{{Folger inline|Ham|5|1|116–117}}</ref>}}

Lee Ustick, writing in 1936, commented:
{{blockquote| To-day the distinction, among collectors of manuscripts, is that ''vellum'' 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.{{sfn|Ustick|1936|p=440}}}}

It is for these reasons that many modern [[Conservator-restorer|conservators]], [[librarian]]s and [[archivist]]s prefer to use either the broader term ''parchment'' or the neutral term ''animal membrane''.{{sfn|Stokes|Almagno|2001|p=114}}{{sfn|Clemens|Graham|2007|pp=9–10}}