chapter twenty-eight

Printing on Vellum

With the advent of printing from moveable type, came the dominance of paper over vellum as the material of choice for books. I am sure that the high cost of vellum compared to that of paper probably contributed to its decline as well. Even so, proportionally, more books were printed on vellum in the first fifty years of printing than at any other time, in part, because fifteenth-century printers were actively competing with the manuscript. In every great period of printing, a few copies of an extraordinary edition, usually presentation copies, were often printed on vellum. Christopher Plantin’s eight-volume polyglot Bible, produced between 1569 and 1572, aptly illustrates this point. There were 1,200 sets on a variety of papers and twelve on vellum, although for financial reasons, in eleven of the vellum sets, two of the eight volumes were printed on paper. Each vellum copy required more than 2,300 skins. A few contemporary handpress printers have experimented with printing on vellum, most likely influenced by William Morris’s decision to issue some of his editions on vellum as well as paper. For example, his The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (1896) was in an edition of 425 copies of which thirteen were on vellum.

In the pre-twentieth-century printer’s manuals I have examined, the only one that even mentions printing on vellum is Harpel’s Typograph (1870, p.234) by Oscar Henry Harpel. The extent of Harpel’s comments on vellum is brief: “Printing on parchment is sometimes troublesome because of the animal fat that remains in the parchment. By rubbing the sheet over with a piece of cotton, dampened with purified benzine, previous to printing, a good impression can be had. But generally, if high grade ink is used, with little or no reduction by varnish, it will print parchment well.” W.W. Pasko, in his American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking (1894, p.427), mentions that “one out of four skins is spoiled upon the press.” Not a very encouraging statistic. It is not my intention to dampen your enthusiasm, but I should also point out that vellum today costs approximately ten times more than the finest grade of handmade paper.

One of the most informative statements about printing on vellum appears in the following letter of instructions, dated January 6, 1902, which William H. Bowden, an overseer at the Kelmscott Press, sent to Horace Hart at the Oxford University Press:

In the first place, it is necessary that the vellum should have just a little more than a suspicion of dampness (not enough to make the sheet cockle) and this is best got by the following method:

Well wet down half a ream of good stout white paper (equivalent in weight to 60lb. demy). This should be well turned for about 3 or 4 days, and kept in a damp cellar.

When the vellums are to be printed, this paper should be brought out, and a skin put in about the middle; a flat board should be placed on top, and, on top of that, a ream of paper to act as a weight. Only put in one skin at a time.

After the skin has been between the damp sheets from 30 to 45 seconds, according to the thickness of the skins, it should be printed at once and not waved in the air more than can be helped.

After printing, the skins should be interleaved with dry paper (and not kept damp), and the same process gone through in printing the re-iteration. This allows of perfect register being got.

Print the rough side of the vellum first on the inner forme. This is important as the skins spoil on the rough side more frequently than on the smooth.

Always print one more vellum than the number required, in case of accident; and if there are any heavy borders or large initials, two should be pulled. This will be found in the end to be a great saving.

As hardly two skins are of the same thickness, the Pressman must use judgment as to the impression. The impression should be rather dwelt on.

It is best to work off both sides of the skin in black first, before printing the red, as red ink has a great tendency to run on damp skin. The red should be printed when the skin is quite dry.

Anyone wanting to print seriously on vellum should consult The Mystique of Vellum (1984) by Richard Bigus. Bigus is one of the few contemporary printers who has actually printed books on vellum. There are also two other shorter, but very informative, publications on vellum that would be of interest to handpress printers: Decherd Turner’s introduction to the exhibition catalog, One Text, Two Results (1991), at Southern Methodist University, and Penny Jenkins’s article “Printing on Parchment and Vellum” in The Paper Conservator, v.16 (1992, pp.31–39).

Here is a short list of things to remember when printing on vellum:

vellum has a hair and a flesh side alternate the sides the same as you would with wire and felt sides of paper separate the skins into piles by weight be sure the skins have been degreased vellum requires very little, if any, dampening prepricking the holes for the points is recommended run sufficient tests on the ink to find the one best suited for vellum