Parchment displaced papyrus because it was durable and writable on both sides
Evidence
The transition from the papyrus scroll, the preferred medium of ancient writing, to the parchment codex, with separate pages sewn together (a book), would transform the library. Parchment was not a new invention. The treatment of animal skins to make sheets for writing was a long-established practice. The name derived from the Greek city of Pergamum, which is credited with having developed the technique of soaking, scraping and stretching skins to create a surface for writing. Yet parchment was not widely used in the ancient world, relied upon only during shortages of papyrus. In an era of abundant and cheap papyrus, this is understandable: parchment took longer to prepare and was far more expensive: a substantial parchment book would require the skins of more than a hundred calves, goats or sheep. But it did have two advantages: it was durable and would not degrade in climates colder than that of the Egyptian Nile delta, and one could write on both sides of the sheet, instead of the single side of papyrus. — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 84
Categorization
- XREF: Directly serves the stated goal of tracing how the shift from papyrus to codex drove bookkeeping evolution. — connects to: Papyrus texts require continuous curation and perish if neglected. — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 68; Parchment displaced papyrus despite being far more expensive — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 84; Rome’s chief library legacy was the shift from papyrus to parchment. — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 24 (+2 more)
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 84
Broader Connections
- The fall of Rome disrupted papyrus supply, making parchment the standard
#complicates(0.60) — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 85