The Language of Skins: An Etymological Study of Skin-Based Book Materials and their Processes

Abstract

Animal skins have been transformed by humans for millennia into material used for books.Parchment has served as a sheet material for manuscript scrolls and codices since as early as the fourth century CE. Tanned skins (such as leather and suede), parchment, and alum-tawed skins have a long history of use as book coverings - both as limp covers and for covering wood and pasteboard covers. Terminology has developed to describe these hide-based materials sometimes merging with popular language that does not reflect accurate history of production and use. The aim of this essay is to clarify animal skin-related terminology for the field of book history, and in doing so discuss the history of skins, and the fascinating human-animal relationships that skin processing emerged from.