Editing Vellum (section)

===Usage===
Most of the finer sort of medieval manuscripts, whether [[illuminated manuscript|illuminated]] or not, were written on vellum. Some [[Gandhāran Buddhist texts]] were written on vellum, and all [[Sifrei Torah]] (Hebrew: ספר תורה Sefer Torah; plural: ספרי תורה, Sifrei Torah) are written on [[kosher]] [[klaf]] or vellum.

A quarter of the 180-copy edition of [[Johannes Gutenberg]]'s first [[Gutenberg Bible|Bible]] printed in 1455 with [[movable 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 a [[printing press]] and to [[bookbinding|bind]]. The twelfth-century [[Winchester Bible]] was also written on approximately 250 calfskins.

In art, vellum was used for paintings, especially if they needed to be sent long distances, before [[canvas]] became widely used in about 1500, and continued to be used for drawings, and [[watercolour]]s. [[Old master print]]s 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 sometimes [[gilding|gilt]] but were also often not [[embellishment|embellished]]. 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)|''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.