Parchment or Vellum

Vellum of good quality is the medium upon which this manuscript was written, according to the special collections staff at Hill Memorial Library in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  After close to six centuries, there are few trouble spots in the vellum itself except for the very outer pages that appear to have been damp or wet at one time.  As these were end pages with no writing on them, there was no damage to the manuscript itself. 

Vellum is a writing material made from calf skin that is treated and prepared to receive ink and/or paints. The only real difference between parchment and vellum is that parchment applies to goat and sheep skins, not to calf.  Either material could be used for manuscript making but vellum of good quality lasts more than a life time and it can be extrapolated, was more expensive (Brown, p. 95).