Rediscovering Parchment: The Nature of the Beast

Summary For most of the Christian era parchment was the plastic sheet material, in use for many things besides textblocks. Since the late Middle Ages, however, the skills and understanding necessary for handling parchment have been effectively lost. As a result, parchment has been treated like paper, even though it is a completely different material; this has caused enormous damage. In this article the essential points of parchment manufacture, hygroscopic response, and correct storage environment are discussed. The photographs illustrate some of the characteristic features and damage found in parchment, revealing facts about the animal whose skin it was, about its manufacture and subsequent treatment in scriptoria, and about its response to stresses caused by the environment, by use, by repair, and by measures intended to protect or display parchment.