vellum

The scratch of quill on vellum, is an itch scratched of divine satisfaction.

A lithograth is printed on paper or vellum.

Dating the sheepskin vellum to the sixteenth century just means that the vellum is from that time.

Also, contacting a maker of parchment and vellum might have got results.

There are poetry books printed at fine art presses with complex bits of vellum, embossing and debossing.

It feels nicer to write on than anything other than drafting vellum, so far, and is not very expensive.

Scanning ancient documents can be anything but trivial, and frequently more involved than simply placing paper/ parchment/ vellum/ etc on a glass plate.

There's been research into more durable forms of storage that might still be accessible, but in the end it's tough to beat physically etching something into stone or writing it on paper or vellum.

It might even be that the word "book" just can't shake off the print connotation, and will end up going the way of "folio" and "vellum" as an obsolete format-specific word when printed books start becoming curiosities.

I even recall from college that the caliph ordered all verses, in any form, to be collected; some of the verse was from scraps of vellum, reed, antler, etc... If thousands of memorizers truly existed, such an exercise wouldn't be needed.

The ink remains untested, and a radiocarbon study of the parchment of one key map—the only one subjected to such analysis—dates the sheepskin vellum to the fifteenth or sixteenth century, a sign the map is at best a copy.

A little late to this, but for my Hacker Newsletter project I keep track of of the number of times a user gets on the top three pages: 337 shawndumas\n 312 ColinWright\n 298 iProject\n 291 Libertatea\n 214 danso\n 197 llambda\n 165 Lightning\n 163 tokenadult\n 158 sethbannon\n 147 mtgx\n 144 evo_9\n 120 DanielRibeiro\n 115 denzil_correa, jonbaer\n 111 lelf\n 102 001sky\n 101 dmor\n 98 coloneltcb\n 97 Tsiolkovsky, craigkerstiens, dsr12, mh_\n 95 ssclafani\n 90 jseliger\n 89 jamesbritt\n 87 JumpCrisscross\n 85 Garbage\n 83 wallflower\n 82 luu\n 81 antr, protomyth\n 77 anigbrowl, codegeek\n 74 aaronbrethorst\n 73 jgrahamc, pg\n 71 uladzislau\n 70 sinak, steveklabnik\n 69 RougeFemme\n 68 cleverjake, derpenxyne, swohns\n 67 _pius\n 66 jamesjyu, rosser, wslh\n 64 Pr0, eplanit\n 63 Brajeshwar, sk2code, uptown\n 62 bane, stfu\n 61 teawithcarl\n 59 ghosh, joeyespo, ph0rque\n 58 gnosis\n 57 r0h1n, scholia\n 56 AndrewDucker, cpeterso, ohjeez\n 55 bpierre, cyphersanctus, gruseom\n 54 conductor\n 52 nikunjk\n 51 Suraj-Sun, kirillzubovsky\n 50 lispython\n 49 MikeCapone, WestCoastJustin, co_pl_te, duck, robin_reala\n 48 Anon84, ca98am79, taylorbuley\n 47 fraqed, morphics, nkurz, rpm4321\n 46 jmduke, kumarski, nreece\n 45 georgecmu\n 44 daegloe, rdl\n 43 donohoe, kunle, olivercameron\n 42 tanglesome\n 41 austengary, ck2, jnazario\n 40 interconnector, rnyman, sonabinu, wikiburner, zoowar\n 39 cdvonstinkpot, pwg, revorad\n 38 1337biz, hepha1979, jeffbarr, mhb, zdw\n 37 fogus, kjhughes, vectorbunny\n 36 Cbasedlifeform, DanBC, DiabloD3, Reltair, acremades, geetarista\n 35 AndreyKarpov, jessaustin, mxfh, prostoalex, raganwald, rbanffy\n 34 wglb\n 33 CrankyBear, cryptoz, hackhackhack, kposehn, nvk\n 32 MarlonPro, bcn, npguy, qubitsam, techinsidr\n 31 Ashuu, Baustin, caffeinewriter, drucken, edent, iamtechaddict, ilamont, mariuz, mikecane, rmah, rohshall, shill, whoishiring\n 30 eguizzo, eksith, gklein, lukashed, talhof8\n 29 Sami_Lehtinen, ari_elle, cwan, espeed, gwern, jacquesm, mitmads, sgdesign, superchink, velodrome, wyclif\n 28 Quekster, X4, clicks, esalazar, iamwil, jaf12duke, javinpaul, laurent123456, recoiledsnake, vanwilder77, zt\n 27 6thSigma, ValentineC, aespinoza, ananyob, anu_gupta, awwstn, bavidar, dave1010uk, ekm2, pajju, rkudeshi, sdoering, yapcguy\n 26 DanielBMarkham, bitsweet, brudgers, hornokplease, jcr, tptacek, whalesalad\n 25 EzGraphs, Hirvesh, adventured, albertzeyer, barredo, johns, jpadilla_, kevin_morrill, kmfrk, mmastrac, mooreds, mrb, niggler, ot, prateekj, saurabh, shrikant, tambourine_man, thibaut_barrere, tjaerv, usaphp\n 24 amerf1, coffeemug, dangoldin, neya, qiqing, signa11, twapi, w1ntermute, zrail\n 23 Dekku, Shivetya, duggieawesome, ingve, jalanco, mikeevans, ninthfrank07, npalli, olalonde, playhard, rachbelaid, rb2e, subsystem\n 22 adamnemecek, amarsahinovic, aritraghosh007, chmars, colinprince, ctoth, dutchbrit, eranation, jashkenas, jmacd, joshfraser, kine, lowglow, mike_esspe, muratmutlu, napolux, redDragon, rrhoover, tareqak, youngerdryas, yread, ytNumbers\n 21 T-A, akandiah, anon1385, breck, dpaluy, glazskunrukitis, gridscomputing, homakov, ianstormtaylor, jusben1369, kunai, mindcrime, msvan, onosendai, peterkchen, prajjwal, pron, schrofer, sp332, treskot, ttunguz, urlwolf, ximeng\n 20 BerislavLopac, BruceM, Jaigus, a3voices, abdophoto, angersock, boh, brandnewlow, chinmoy, chrisacky, cperciva, fekberg, ivoflipse, jasonshen, julien, llamataboot, mjn, mmahemoff, platz, shakes, smit, soundsop, speeder, tmoretti, tocomment, vellum\n 19 RobAley, SanderMak, WadeF, bencevans, bitcartel, clarkm, declan, experiment0, gasull, goronbjorn, hartleybrody, jejune06, jkuria, k-mcgrady, kevingibbon, mijustin, minimaxir, njoglekar, obilgic, ohadfrankfurt, pclark, rainmaker23, robdoherty2, rubikscube, sciwiz, stevewilhelm, tdrnd, timf, twakefield, wamatt\n 18 10char, ForFreedom, Pasanpr, aynlaplant, bsg75, cs702, deviceguru, dotmanish, ezl, jheitzeb, jstreebin, julien421, orrsella, pain_perdu, philfreo, polskibus, rblion, ridruejo, rmason, sew, swombat\n 17 MaysonL, ananddass, barmstrong, bconway, bergie, crabasa, dmmalam, dsego, dshankar, equilibrium, fejr, ferdo, gebe, jkopelman, josephby, mikeleeorg, mkrecny, nashequilibrium, petenixey, petercooper, petrel, profquail, ra, replicatorblog, songzme, spking, taytus, ujeezy, wrongc0ntinent\n 16 Adrock, Impossible, LiveTheDream, StavrosK, aashaykumar92, afshinmeh, ajaymehta, cdl, choult, damian2000, danboarder, daw___, electic, esolyt, followmylee, franze, giis, greenyoda, gregpurtell, hunvreus, jdorfman, jdp23, jellyksong, jorde, jordn, karamazov, linux_devil, lleims, mahmoudimus, maskofsanity, mjhea0, narad, nate, p4bl0, peter123, rfreytag, sciurus, sebg, sharkweek, spindritf, stevewillensky, tosh, tshtf, xmpir, zengr\n 15 Ataub24, FredericJ, MIT_Hacker, Mithrandir, adulau, apress, areski, austenallred, babawere, bhauer, bitops, bmmayer1, bradleybuda, ckelly, cooldeal, czr80, dan1234, danielpal, gits1225, grey-area, groundCode, hamidr, hawkharris, jeffreyfox, lucb1e, mayop100, mikeknoop, pdknsk, relation, robbiet480, rodriguezcommaj, rpsubhub, sasvari, sheri, smacktoward, thejteam, thinkcomp, vinhnx, xtraclass\n 14 0cool, Alex3917, ComputerGuru, Peroni, SparksZilla, amazedsaint, anons2011, apoorvamehta, bifrost, blacktulip, bradly, brandonb, bslatkin, c-oreills, carlosgg, charlieirish, chwolfe, codelion, davidroberts, dbaupp, dendory, dennybritz, draegtun, dsl, e1ven, edwintorok, enneff, glazemaster, grej, harryzhang, ishener, ivankirigin, japhyr, jarederondu, jkaljundi, johndcook, joshuacc, justincormack, kamaal, kanamekun, lisper, mathattack, networked, nickmain, pjvds, pragmatictester, pykello, robg, sabalaba, samspenc, sinnerswing, technologizer, ternaryoperator, thewarrior, timr, titlex, watermel0n, wlll\n 13 6ren, AlexMuir, CrunchyJams, DavidChouinard, Kopion, acav, alter8, asanwal, benjlang, bra-ket, brettcvz, bryanh, bussetta, chrismealy, cinquemb, cpleppert, creamyhorror, cwilson, davidw, detcader, dfc, digisth, ekianjo, endtwist, gatsby, glaugh, gulbrandr, ics, jfaucett, jlongster, kn0thing, larrys, lenkendall, libovness, lukaseder, mactitan, marban, mgunes, michaelrbock, neeee, noinput, palidanx, paulschlacter, plessthanpt05, porker, pytrin, rjsamson, rohin, rpledge, samsolomon, sebkomianos, selmnoo, sethev, smaili, srathi, t0dd, techaddict009, tellarin, tilt, tlrobinson, tomasien, trendspotter, turoczy, vyrotek, waffle_ss, waterlesscloud, weu\n 12 31reasons, ChuckMcM, CrazedGeek, DaNmarner, Ecio78, Fletch137, GuiA, ISL, IgorPartola, JacksonGariety, Kilo-byte, Rickasaurus, RockyMcNuts, Sealy, SteliE, aaronpk, abraham, achalkley, akos, alexholehouse, ankitoberoi, anujkk, bberson, bcl, bjansn, bjonathan, brianchu, btilly, bwertz, casca, cgi_man, changdizzle, chaz, chriscampbell, cocoflunchy, cramforce, d4vlx, daigoba66, dandrewsen, dctoedt, deusclovis, dmoney67, doh, dwynings, eladgil, enmaku, evolve2k, feelthepain, flippyhead, ghshephard, googletron, gz5, hansy, hkmurakami, hornbaker, irollboozers, jnoller, joxie, juliangamble, kareemm, kitcar, metajack, microwise, mindstab, mmariani, morisy, mpweiher, negrit, nekojima, nqureshi, paraschopra, pascal07, pauljonas, pbiggar, pearjuice, peterkelly, poissonpie, robheaton, seminatore, sherm8n, spooneybarger, stesch, taigeair, thegarside, theoutlander, tikhonj, tnorthcutt, uvdiv, vog, vu0tran, weisser, yeleti, zan2434\n 11 Amadou, BIackSwan, Cieplak, Swizec, TDL, adrianhoward, aelaguiz, afschwartz, alok-g, aram, benhowdle89, benwerd, cstross, darxius, davidsmith8900, dboles99, decklin, devx, diggan, dkasper, dohertyjf, eduardordm, edw519, eibrahim, ekpyrotic, elleferrer, epenn, fatiherikli, frankdenbow, friism, guiseppecalzone, haven, hudibras, iand, igrigorik, immad, infoman, jacoblyles, jamest, jbaudanza, jdmitch, jgv, jipumarino, johnjlocke, jordanmessina, jpmc, judegomila, kloncks, knes, kogir, ldayley, leephillips, lest, lettergram, luigi, marcieoum, mazsa, memoryfailure, moonboots, morefranco, nbashaw, ndesaulniers, nonrecursive, nsns, nsp, null_ptr, octopus, oleganza, patrickaljord, pavel_lishin, philip1209, rasengan, rdemmer, remi, rfnslyr, rvivek, salimmadjd, sgrove, shared4you, sillysaurus2, simonreed, spdy, speednoise, stollercyrus, swannodette, teamgb, thehodge, tippytop, tlongren, tomse, tortilla, trevin, twog, ukd1, whit537, willvarfar, wiradikusuma, xijuan, yitchelle, zachinglis, zhs\n 10 AirbnbNerds, Avalaxy, CaptainZapp, Danieru, JanLaussmann, MattRogish, Maven911, Mitt, SonicSoul, Xcelerate, andreiursan, andrewnez, antman, austinhallock, bdehaaff, bearwithclaws, bevenky, binarybits, blackhole, brown9-2, ceeK, chaostheory, cheeaun, chewxy, chrislloyd, clarky07, cobrausn, cyang08, dazbradbury, dcope, denysonique, dhotson, diminium, dirkk0, dmitri1981, dsowers, dylangs1030, dz0ny, edtechdev, fecak, felipebueno, fmavituna, giorgiofontana, gkuan, gregman, hboon, hippo33, hodgesmr, imkevinxu, jacobwg, jashmenn, jayadevan, jazzychad, jballanc, jf, jkarneges, josh2600, jpatokal, jvns, jwallaceparker, k33l0r, kafkaesque, kinlan, kintamanimatt, krat0sprakhar, kyledrake, lukedeering, maccman, malloc47, marojejian, matt1, maudlinmau5, mdturnerphys, mecredis, milesf, misiti3780, mjfern, molecule, mparramon, mschonfeld, nathanbarry, nileshd, ovechtrick, pavs, pearkes, petethomas, phenylene, philk10, pkrein, r4vik, radley, ramisms, robhawkes, rocky1138, rsobers, sidcool, siong1987, smanuel, stefan_kendall, sw007, swah, swampthing, swanson, sweis, techdog, thingsilearned, timjahn, tylermenezes, ukdm, will_brown, wsieroci, yesplorer, yonasb, zacharyvoase