Parchment

Parchment is a slightly edited animal skin that has been used since ancient times as a writing. It is thus a precursor of the paper.

Production and use

In the advanced civilizations of the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean region has been used since ancient times as a writing leather. As leather and parchment is made from animal skins, which was much untanned placed in a lime solution before hair, epidermis and adhering meat residues are scraped off. The skin is then cleaned, stretched and dried. The surface is smoothed with pumice and whitened with chalk. Depending on the care of the processing, the different surface structure of meat and hair side remains more or less clearly obtained: the flesh side is smooth, the hair side shows the pore. The finest quality made ​​from skins of newborn or unborn goats and lambs. On parchment of calf the hairlines are visible as fine dots, the goat has regular, something Tiered points parchment from sheep is honey-colored, papery, without significant hairlines.

The advantages of the parchment over the papyrus passed in its smoother surface, in its strength and durability as well as in its predominantly bright color. The good Tilgbarkeit the labeling facilitates reuse parchment already described. In this case one speaks of a palimpsest (Greek palimpsestos " scraped again " ) or a codex Rescriptus (Latin for " again described the Code").

The quality of the parchment and the care taken in the production were a measure of the level of a scriptorium. The skill of the writer and the painter showed in dealing with the extremely moisture-sensitive writing material. Also work to ensure recommendations have been handed down, for example in the anonymous manuscript Compendium artis picturae of the 12th century.

The standard value for the storage of parchment is a constant humidity of not less than 40% at temperatures around 20 ° C.

History

Antiquity

The term parchment (Greek περγαμηνή pergamene ) is derived from the place name Pergamum ( on the west coast of Turkey, Bergama today ) from: Greek membrana pergamena means " Pergamum skins ". According to a note from the elder Pliny prevailing in Egypt King Ptolemy had (apparently Ptolemy VI. , 180-145 BC), the papyrus Export prohibited to Pergamon, where King Eumenes II ( 197-159 BC), one with the Alexandria, Egypt, competing library operation; to a certain extent out of necessity who thereupon the Pergamum invented the parchment. The story is widely regarded as legendary. It is believed that in Pergamum only a qualitative improvement of the Beschreibstoffs was developed, which goes back to the naming.

The oldest datable Greek on parchment documents date from the 2nd century BC In the first century AD parchment is attested as a carrier of literary works indirectly, datable originals reach into the 2nd century AD. return. Since the 4th century AD, began to rewrite papyrus scrolls in Pergamentkodices, which should include the future as a book form. Pergamentkodices are the great masterpieces of the late antique book painting, such as the Vienna Dioscorides, or Vergilius Vaticanus. Further evidence of the Late Antique Books luxury are the so-called purple manuscripts whose parchment pages are colored in purple and described with silver or gold ink, such as the Vienna Genesis also illuminated. As a particularly precious document to the so called purple parchment valid marriage certificate of the Empress Theophano from the 10th century, the staining was achieved by red lead and dyers madder.

Post-antique

Because vellum is translucent, even lamps and windows were covered with parchment.

Parchment was also next to the reinforcement of wood surfaces. So since ancient wooden shields were covered with parchment, among other things, to prevent splitting the wood in bats. In Holzprothesenbau parchment was used up to the present to solidify the hollow wooden stocks of arm and leg prostheses. The brittle poplar would be torn in the long run without the shrunk parchment coating.

Towards the end of the Middle Ages the parchment was increasingly displaced from the paper. For one paper was significantly cheaper to manufacture, on the other hand needed the ever more widespread book paper because it absorbs the color better. In the wake of the rise of printing, written on parchment medieval manuscripts were also used to waste.

Greaseproof paper

Parchment (English vegetable parchment ) is with the help of chemicals permanently grease-proof and moisture-proof made ​​pulp paper.

His invention took place in the mid-19th century in the various European countries at the same place. A native of France Louis Plaidy and later his son, Henry presented in Wermsdorf already in 1810 a fabricated with graphite - quartz schist and sodium silicate solution Stone parchment ago. However, the Plaidy retained their manufacturing technique, so that the procedure was no industrial application. The French IA Poumarède and Louis Figuer published in 1847 a process for the production of Papyrin with sulfuric acid, which the Viennese paper researchers Bartsch helped to fabrication maturity about 20 years later. An almost identical procedure was described in 1853 by the English chemist E. Gaine. Industrial was established in 1861 in England parchment paper then for the first time.

Parchment paper is produced in several separate operations. In a first step, the pulp fibers are strongly crushed to produce fat tightness. After the pulp has been processed in the second step to the paper, it follows that the relevant for parchmentizing step of treating with sulfuric acid. Here, the paper fibers are dissolved at the surface of the paper so that they connect permanently to a closed surface. Thus, a wholly-owned fat tightness is achieved. The excess acid is washed out in several water baths. In the last step, the paper is dried. Parchment paper is in contrast to the greaseproof paper high wet strength (without sulfuric acid treatment ) and non- compostable.

Today's tracing paper as a carrier for carpeted hand technical drawings is also called parchment.