Over the last few years Scriptorium has been making high quality facsimiles using the best paper supports found on the market, including what is known as pergamenata paper, in an attempt to create something resembling natural parchment as closely as possible. It is, as you would expect, easy to understand that the durability, texture, feel, smell and natural beauty, essential features of natural parchment, should be impossible to get with any type of paper-based support.

In its zeal to meet the most demanding requirements, our company has brought out the first edition of the “Book of the Games of Chess, Dice and Tables” by Alphonso X the Wise, on natural lambskin parchment. The process for obtaining the parchment with which each of the 390 copies are made is the same as was used in the medieval tanneries, starting with the repair and selection of the skins one by one at their place of origin. After being macerated in water and quicklime for as long as necessary we proceed to manual scraping, a task which requires skill and patience to prevent any damage to the skins. Then, after drying and tensing on a wooden frame, the size, thickness and uniformity are controlled. After removing these from the frame we sand and smooth off both sides with pumice stone by hand. We then continue with the final selection and later manual cutting to the size of the original manuscript.

If you like manuscripts, Scriptorium, with its publication of the Alphonso manuscript on natural lambskin parchment, gives you a chance to enjoy the ancient wise craft that illuminators, copyists and scholars handed us down on vellum and parchment, with their patient knowledge.

Further information on the Chess book on our web site in parchment copies.