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Parchment
Writing material made from animal skins / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For the cellulose-based composite used in baking, see Parchment paper.
For other uses, see Parchment (disambiguation).
Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of young animals such as lambs and young calves.
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It is sometimes called animal membrane by libraries and museums that wish to avoid distinguishing between parchment and the more-restricted term vellum (see below).