> >Parchment, if well made and kept dry, is at least as
> >durable as paper.
>
> If you say so. I've never seen a parchment-paged book which looked like it'd
> last thru one more reading. They keep those in special conditions in
> museums, and even then they are fragile, even tho they are rarely even a
> Thousand years old. Rag paper doesn't need any special treatment. You can
> leave it around anywhere, wet or dry. It retains its strength over time.
According to a lecture I attended, paper lasts a thousand
years or so if stored in optimal conditions, parchment lasts
perhaps two thousand, but the most durable "soft" writing
material is papyrus which lasts at least four thousand
years as long as it is stored in dry conditions. Carbonized
papyrus is very brittle but otherwise even more resistant
to change.
Nils Weinander
The world is a beautiful place and it's worth fighting for
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