The Pergamena

Lambskin (but also sheep, mutton, and goatskin) macerated in lime, then scraped, stretched, and dried to make it smooth and translucent. After being smoothed with pumice or cuttlefish bone, parchment—also called parchment or membrane—became an excellent writing surface. For many centuries, it was the most prized and durable material for manuscript codices: in an era when paper and books were rare and precious commodities, parchment offered the advantage of being able to be "washed" of the writing of a text deemed uninteresting and reused to accommodate a new author's copy. The use of parchment (whose name derives from Pergamon in Asia Minor, the city that invented it two hundred years before Christ, and which produced it in large quantities) did not disappear with the invention of printing. In the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, the practice of printing and illuminating books on parchment in order to imitate manuscripts was still widespread; In particular, it was commonly used for liturgical and devotional works such as Books of Hours and statutes (but there is no shortage of splendid examples of Bibles printed on parchment). Even today, as throughout the modern age, presentation works are still made from parchment. Parchment is also used in the musical instrument industry (such as accordions), in the manufacture of boxes and cases, and in bookbinding.