MAKING A MANUSCRIPT
Making parchement was a simple, but labor intensive, process. First the hide had to be selected, a task that required a trained eye. Any blemishes found on the skin, such as discoloration and punctures, would inevitably be transferred to the final product. The hide would then be washed in a lime and water solution for several days in order to loosen the hair from the skin. The hair was then washed off and the hide would be hung on a rack. The parchmenter, i.e. the person creating the parchment, would then use a cirular knife, known as a lunellum, on the flesh side of the skin to remove any remaining fat, sinew, or veins. Once the skin was considered clean it would be hung on another rack. The skin would remain on the rack in a warm room for anywhere from several days to several weeks until it had completely dried out. The parchmenter would then cut the newly made parchment out of its frame and, after a final sanding, it was ready for use.
Below is a BBC Two video of parchment being made
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
To the right are images taken while viewing the manuscript with Dr. Mitch Wagener. We also used Dr. Dora Pinou's labratory to scan the manuscript at higher magnification.
We were examining the manuscript to look for a discernable follicle pattern in an effort to identify the species of animal the parchment may have come from.
The British Library has microscopic images of different animal hides used in creating parchment. Based on this comparison, we have determined that WCSU's manuscript leaf is most likely sheep.
The images from the British Library may not have been scraped, stretched and washed with lime as indicated by the consistency of the hide's follicular pattern. As the hide was stretched and scraped its natural follical pattern would have been distorted.
Once the parchment was ready it had to be turned into a manuscript. The parchment would be cut into the largest rectangle possible, based on the size of the hide, and then folded. The rectangle would be folded anywhere from once to several times based on the size of the original rectangle and the desired size of the finished manuscript. The folded pages (depending on the amount of times the page was folded, these pages could be called folios, quartos, octos, etc...) would then be stacked together into what was known as a quire. The quires would then be stiched together into a collective manuscript. The manuscript would then be bound, typically in leather, and then decorated. Below is an example of a set of folios or quires as well as an image of a finished, bound, and decorated manuscript.
(see the V&A Museum's page repairing this medieval manuscript binding.)
