• Dziatzko (Wntersuchungen, pp. 31, 32) sugfcsts that in ancient Egj-pt the Bbres of the bark were used as well as the pith, the exclusive use of the latter being introduced after the Greek occupation ; but there is no authority tor this distinc- tion, and an examination of early Ej^yptian papjTi does not reven! any essential difference in the method of "their manu- facture. Moreover, since Pliny states that even that part of the pith which was nearest the bark made material too coarse tor writing' purposes, the hark itself nuist have been still more unsuitable, and could not produce such excellent material as the papyri of the 18th and even earlier dynasties.
t Pliny's words, 'turbidus liquor vim (jlutinis pnebet,' are variously interpreted to mean that the muddy water (of the Nile) 'gives strength to the glue' (fitulinu, dat. plur.) or •answers the puri>ose of glue ' {f^tutimg, gen. sing.). Dziatzko (fip. cit. pp. 84, 85) states that a chemical examination of some fragments of papyrus disclosed no trace of glue between the layers, but showed that it had been applied to the surface, presunialjly to smooth and strengthen it. Certainly it is not always possible to discern glue, but Bometimes it appears to be present.
book trade. That the h.abitual use of tbem im- plied poverty, appears from Lucian (Vit. Auct. c 9), where it is one of the signs of the poverty- stricken disciple of Diogenes. The writing on papyrus was disposed in columns (ireMoes), the width of which, if not dictated by necessity, aa ip the verses of a poem, is generally from 2 to 3i in in thecaseof literary MSS of good quality. In copies written without regard to appearances (like the 'A8. lIoX.), it might be considerably more. The title of a work was normally written at the end. The inner edge of the roll, or both edges, might be pro- vided with a wooden roller {dfupaXds), and volumes which claimed elegance of appearance were prob- ably always provided with them. Commoner copies were not so provided, but the edges were tlien generally strengthened by an extra strip of papyrus, to prevent tearing. A <riX\iijSos, or thin strip of papyrus or vellum, was attached to the outside of the roll, bearing the title of the work ; such a fflWv^os, bearing the title of Sopliron's Miines, has been discovered at Oxyrhynchus (Ox. Pap. 301, now Brit. Mus. Pap. 801). The roll might be enclosed in a cover (^airiXT/s), to protect it from damage, and stored in a wooden ease (capsa) with several others. — The roll form of book con- tinued in common, if not universal, use until the 3rd cent. ; but from that date onwards (under the influence, no doubt, of the increasing use of vellum) papyrus books in codex form (like modern books) begin to be found, and the roll form gradu- ally drops out of use. The earliest fragments of the Greek Bible are written in the codex form, which seems to have been preferred by the Chris- tian converts. Vellum superseded panyrus as the material for the best books in the 4tli cent., but papyrus continued to be employed for inferior copies until the 7th cent. In 640, however, the Arabs conquered Egypt, and, by stopping the ex- port of papyrus, struclc the death-blow to its use as a vehicle of Greek and Latin literature. It continued to be used in Egypt to some extent for accounts and for Coptic documents ; but its literary importance was at an end.
(^•) Parchment or vellum.— This material may be regarded as a special development from the use of skins, described above ; but it occupies a far more important place in the histoi-y of literature than its parent. According to Varro {ap. Pliny, Elf xiii. 11), it originated at Perganium under Eumenea II. (B.C. 197-158), when tlie kinfj of Egj'pt, anxious to cripple his rival's growing library, forbade the export of papyrus. The king of rergamum accord- ingly reverted to the use of skins, which had for- merly been general in .\»ia .Minor (st-e above; ; but the skins were made more suitable for literary pur- poses by a special preparation, and the material thus produced received from its place of origin the name of Trepya/i-nv/j, whence our parchment. Parch- ment differs from leather in not being taniied ; the skins are merely stretched and dried, the hairs being removed from the one side and the flesh from the other, and the whole being smoothed with pumice. In modem usage the flesh side is also dressed with chalk ; the special methods, if any, of preparing ancient parchment are unknown. "The skins used are principally those of sheep, lambs, and calves, but those of goats, asses, and swine may also be used ; and specially fine vellum is provided by antelopes. Strictly speaking, vellum denotes the material mamifactured from calves (and antelopes), and parchment that provided by sheep, etc. ; but prac- tically no distinction is made between them, and the term vellum is applied to all kinds of dressed skins used for the purposes of writing. Of the character of the vellum SISS of Perganium nothing is known ; but it is certain that the material did not come into general use for literary purposes, in
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other countries, until a much later period. At Kome, in the 1st cent. B.C. and the 1st and 2nd cents, after Christ, there is evidence of the use of vellum, but only for note-books and for rough drafts or inferior copies of literary works (Cic. ad Aft .\iii. 2i ; Hor. Sit. ii. 3; Martial, .\iv. 7. 184, etc. ; Quintiiian, x. 3. 31). A fragment of a vellum MS, which may belong to this period, ia preserved in Brit. Mus. Add. MS 34473, consisting of two leaves of Demosthenes, de Fals. Leg., in a small hand, which appears to be of the 2nd century. The u.se of vellum for note-books, which would be shaped according to the analogj' of wax tablets, the form of note-book previously existing, natur- allj' led to the evolution of the codex, or modern book form ; and the rise of vellum into favour for literary purposes is also the rise of the codex. Tliis appears to have taken place during the 3rd cent. , tlie final victory of vellum and the codex form being achieved in the early part of tlie 4th century. When Constantine founded his new capital, he instructed Eusebius to have hfty MSS on vellum (<ru^Tia iv Si<p6tp(ui) prepared by skilled calligraiphers for the churches in it (Vit. Const, iv. 36, A.u. 331); and about the middle of the century the library of Pamphilus at Csesarea (consisting largely of the works of Origen), which had fallen into decay, was restored by Acacius and Euzoius, who had the damaged volumes rejilaced by vellum ('in niembranis instaurare conati sunt, Jerome, Ep. cxli. ). The s^jread of Christianity probably had much to do with the change, by creating a demand for complete copies of the Scriptures. No papyrus roU of ordinary dimensions could hold more than one of the longer books of the NT, and a set of some 30 or 40 rolls would be necessary for the entire Ilible ; while the whole could be gathered into a single codex of not immoderate size. Ex- amples of such codi('es from this very period re- niam in the celebrated Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, and probably also in the earliest copies of Virgil. The vellum of these early MSS ranks with the verj'linest in quality. For special magni- ficence, the vellum was sometimes dyed purple, with letters of silver or gold. The existence of such MSS in the 4th cent, is proved by Jerome's denunciation of them ('in niembranis purpureis auro argentonue descriptos,' Pr(rf. in Job ; ' in- ficiuMtur memuranie colore purpureo, aurum liqucs- cit in litteras, gemmis codices vestiuntur, ad Eustochium de custud, virg.).