" Vellum and parchment were interchangeable
terms in medieval times; but parchment was commonly
used. In early monastic days it was prepared by the
monks themselves, being rubbed smooth with pumice-stone;
later it was bought from manufacturers ready-made. It
was not so expensive as vellum: the average price being
two shillings per dozen skins as compared with eight
shillings per dozen skins of vellum. For a Bible presented
to Bury St. Edmunds Abbey, finest Irish (or Scottish) vellum
was procured (c. 1121-48). This special material was
used for the paintings, which seem to have been pasted
down on the leaves of inferior vellum. This manuscript is
now in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.[1]
[1] James 1, 7; ibid. 17, 3
The pens used for writing were either made of reeds
(calami) or of quills (pennae). The quill was introduced
after the reed, and largely, though not entirely, superseded
it. Other implements of the expert scribe were a pencil,
compasses, scissors, an awl, a knife for erasures, a ruler, and
a weight to keep down the vellum.
Numerous passages might be dug out of old records
warning scribes against errors in transcribing.
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