Editing Parchment (section)

== History ==
[[File:Permennter-1568.png|thumb|upright|German parchmenter, 1568]]
The word parchment evolved (via the Latin {{Lang|la|pergamenum}} and the French {{Lang|fr|parchemin}}) from the name of the city of [[Pergamon]], which was a thriving center of parchment production during the [[Hellenistic period]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-04-04 |title=parchment |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/parchment |access-date=2023-05-05 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |language=en}}</ref> The city so dominated the trade that a legend later arose that said that parchment had been invented in [[Pergamon]] to replace the use of [[papyrus]], which had become monopolized by the rival city of [[Alexandria]]. This account, originating in the writings of [[Pliny the Elder]] (''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'', Book XIII, 69–70), is almost assuredly false because parchment had been in use in [[Anatolia]] and elsewhere long before the rise of Pergamon.<ref>{{cite book |last=Green |first=Peter |title=Alexander to Actium: the historical evolution of the Hellenistic age |url=https://archive.org/details/alexandertoactiu0000gree |url-access=registration |place=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |year=1990 |isbn=0520056116 |page=[https://archive.org/details/alexandertoactiu0000gree/page/168 168] }}</ref><ref name=metzger>{{Cite book |last=Metzger |first=Bruce |title=The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration |date=2005 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |edition=4th |pages=8 |language=EN}}</ref>

[[Herodotus]] mentions writing on skins as common in his time, the 5th century BC; and in his ''Histories'' (v.58) he states that the Ionians of Asia Minor had been accustomed to give the name of ''skins'' ({{Lang|grc-latn|diphtherai}}) to books; this word was adapted by Hellenized Jews to describe scrolls.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~barilm/parchmen.html |title=Parchment |author=Meir Bar-Ilan |website=Bar-Ilan University – Faculty Members Homepages |access-date=2005-04-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050422080330/http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~barilm/parchmen.html |archive-date=2005-04-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Writing on prepared animal skins had a long history in other cultures outside of the Greeks as well. [[David Diringer]] noted that "the first mention of Egyptian documents written on leather goes back to the [[Fourth Dynasty of Egypt|Fourth Dynasty]] (c. 2550–2450 BC), but the earliest of such documents extant are: a fragmentary roll of leather of the [[Sixth Dynasty of Egypt|Sixth Dynasty]] (c. 24th century BC), unrolled by Dr. H. Ibscher, and preserved in the [[Cairo Museum]]; a roll of the [[Twelfth dynasty of Egypt|Twelfth Dynasty]] (c. 1990–1777 BC) now in Berlin; the mathematical text now in the [[British Museum]] (MS. 10250); and a document of the reign of [[Ramses II]] (early thirteenth century BC)."<ref>[[David Diringer]], ''The Book before Printing: Ancient, Medieval and Oriental'', Dover Publications, New York 1982, p. 172.</ref> Civilizations such as the [[Assyria]]ns and the [[Babylonians]] most commonly impressed their [[cuneiform]] on clay tablets, but they also wrote on parchment from the 6th century BC onward.<ref name="Rennicks-2022">{{Cite web |last=Rennicks |first=Rich |date=2022-12-29 |title=The History Of Vellum And Parchment |url=https://www.abaa.org/blog/post/the-history-of-vellum-and-parchment |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326023304/https://www.abaa.org/blog/post/the-history-of-vellum-and-parchment |archive-date=2023-03-26 |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=The New Antiquarian |publisher=[[Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America]]}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source, a blog post, is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]). Additional sources should be added to back this information up.|date=May 2024}}

By the fourth century AD, in cultures that traditionally used papyrus for writing, parchment began to become the new standard for use in manufacturing important books, and most works which wished to be preserved were eventually moved from papyrus to parchment.<ref name="metzger" />

In the later [[Middle Ages]], especially the 15th century, parchment was largely replaced by [[paper]] for most uses except luxury manuscripts, some of which were also on paper.<ref name="Rennicks-2022" /> New techniques in paper milling allowed it to be much cheaper than parchment; it was made of textile rags and of very high quality.<ref>{{Citation |last=Bloom |first=Jonathan M. |title=Papermaking: The Historical Diffusion of an Ancient Technique |date=2017 |work=Mobilities of Knowledge |pages=51–66 |editor-last=Jöns |editor-first=Heike |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-44654-7_3 |access-date=2025-05-14 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-44654-7_3 |isbn=978-3-319-44654-7 |editor2-last=Meusburger |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Heffernan |editor3-first=Michael}}</ref> Following the arrival of [[printing]] in the later fifteenth century AD, the supply of animal skins for parchment could not keep up with the demands of printers.<ref name="Rennicks-2022" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source, a blog post, is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]). Additional sources should be added to back this information up.|date=May 2024}}

[[File:NLW Penrice and Margam Deeds 204 front (8634702372).jpg|thumb|left|Latin [[Grant (money)|grant]] dated 1329, written on fine parchment or [[vellum]], with [[Seal (emblem)|seal]]]]

There was a short period during the introduction of printing where parchment and paper were used at the same time, with parchment (in fact vellum) the more expensive luxury option, preferred by rich and conservative customers. Although most copies of the [[Gutenberg Bible]] are on paper, some were printed on parchment; 12 of the 48 surviving copies, with most incomplete. In 1490, [[Johannes Trithemius]] preferred the older methods, because "handwriting placed on parchment will be able to endure a thousand years. But how long will printing last, which is dependent on paper? For if ... it lasts for two hundred years that is a long time."<ref>Quoted in David McKitterick, ''Print, Manuscript, and the Search for Order'' [[Cambridge University Press]], 2003</ref> In fact, high-quality paper from this period has survived 500 years or more very well, if kept in reasonable library conditions.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}