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Vellum is a high-quality form of parchment. Originally, it meant calfskin, but in English the term is used more widely.[1]
Like parchment, the skin is prepared to take writing in ink.[2] It was one of the standard writing surfaces used in Europe before paper became available. It continued to be used for high-status documents. The vellum was used for single pages, scrolls, codices or books.
Infographic: Your Own Vellum Place Cards, as easy as 1, 2, 3 Posted on August 10, 2017 by Vicky Tippawong Next time you have an event – whether it’s dinner for a few people or a wedding for hundreds, make your own place cards! Vellum is an Archaeological material that can be obtained through excavating material caches or various excavation sites, requiring level 24 Archaeology, at various dig sites around RuneScape. Vellum is required to restore various artefacts.As players increase their Archaeology level and use higher tier mattocks, they are able to excavate vellum.
To manufacture vellum, the skin is cleaned, then bleached, stretched on a frame called a 'herse', and scraped with a knife. When vellum is scraped, it is by turns wet and dry to create tension. A final finish is got by rubbing the surface with pumice, and treating it with lime or chalk. Then it is ready to accept ink.[3]
Modern 'paper vellum' (sometimes called vegetable vellum) is made out of synthetic material instead of mammal skin, but is used for the same purpose as normal vellum.
Use in the past[changechange source]
In ancient Europe, vellum meant good quality prepared animal skin. Calves, sheep, goat and even camel are known to have been used to make vellum. The very best vellum was made from unborn animals. It can be hard to identify the animal used to make old vellum without using a science lab.
French sources defined velum (or velin in French) as made from calves only.[4] This has remained true in modern times.
Usage[changechange source]
Most of the best sort of medieval manuscripts were written on vellum. Some Buddhist texts were written on vellum, and all Sifrei Torah texts are written on vellum or something similar.
A quarter of the 180 copy edition of Johannes Gutenberg's first Bible printed in 1455 was also printed on vellum, presumably because his costumers expected this for a high-quality book. Paper was used for most book-printing at the time.
In art, vellum was used for paintings, especially if they needed to be sent long distances, before canvas became widely used in about 1500, and continued to be used for drawings, and watercolours. Old master prints were sometimes printed on vellum, especially for presentation copies, until at least the seventeenth century.
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Limp vellum or limp-parchment bindings was used frequently in the 16th and 17th centuries, and were sometimes gilt. In later centuries vellum has been more commonly used like leather. Vellum can be stained virtually any color but mainly it is not, as many people like its faint grain and hair markings.
Many documents that needed to last long were written in vellum as it was able to last longer than paper. Some vellum-written documents are more than a thousand years old.
Modern usage[changechange source]
British Acts of Parliament are still printed on vellum for archival purposes,[5] as are those of the Republic of Ireland.[6] It is still used for Jewish scrolls, for luxury book covers, memorial books, and for various documents in calligraphy.
Today, because of low demand and complicated manufacturing process, animal vellum is expensive and hard to find. Only one UK company still supplies them.[7] A modern vellum-like alternative is made out of cotton. Known as paper vellum, this material is cheaper than animal vellum and can be found in most art and crafting supply stores. Some brands of writing paper and other sorts of paper use the term 'vellum' to suggest quality.
In the artistic crafts of writing, illuminating, lettering, and bookbinding, 'vellum' is normally reserved for calfskin, while any other skin is called 'parchment'.[8]
Paper vellum[changechange source]
Paper vellum is made from cotton. Usually translucent, paper vellum in various sizes is often used in applications where tracing is required, such as architectural plans. Like natural vellum, the paper vellum is more stable than paper, which is frequently critical in the development of large drawings and plans such as blueprints.
Storage[changechange source]
Vellum is typically stored in a stable environment with a stable temperature. If vellum is stored in an environment with less than 11% relative humidity, it becomes fragile, brittle, and susceptible to mechanical stresses; if it is stored in an environment with greater than 40% relative humidity, it becomes vulnerable to mold or fungus growth.[9] The best temperature for the preservation of vellum is 20 ± 1.5 °C (68 ± 3 °F)
References[changechange source]
- ↑'vellum - Origin and meaning of vellum by Online Etymology Dictionary'. www.etymonline.com.
- ↑'Differences between Parchment, Vellum and Paper'. National Archives. 15 August 2016.
- ↑'Differences between Parchment, Vellum and Paper'. National Archives. 15 August 2016.
- ↑Young, Laura A. 1995 Bookbinding & conservation by hand: a working guide, Oak Knoll Press. ISBN1-884718-11-6, ISBN978-1-884718-11-3Google books
- ↑'BBC News - UK Politics - Goat skin tradition wins the day'. news.bbc.co.uk.
- ↑'Frequently Asked Questions about the Houses of the Oireachtas - Tithe an Oireachtais'.
- ↑'William Cowley Parchment Makers - Our Parchment & Vellum is used for: Calligraphy and Illumination, Bookbinding, Botanical Art, Heraldic Art, Memorial Books, Drum Making and Lampshades. Bespoke vellum covering service for furniture and wall & door panels. Document printing service for Certificates, Diplomas, Family Trees'. www.williamcowley.co.uk.
- ↑Johnston E. 1906. Writing, illuminating, and lettering; Lamb C.M. (ed) 1956. The calligrapher's handbook.
- ↑Hansen, Eric F. and Lee, Steve N. 1991. The effects of relative humidity on some physical properties of modern vellum: implications for the optimum relative humidity for the display and storage of parchment. The Book and Paper Group Annual.
From Google Docs to Scrivener to our very own Reedsy Book Editor, there are countless tools out there for writers to create, edit, and ultimately format and export their books to publish. Vellum is another one that you probably recognize, though you might not be completely familiar with its mechanics. That’s why we wanted to comprehensively review the latest Vellum software! In this post we'll evaluate key features, overall pros and cons, and how to know if it’s the right software for you.
Vellum 2 1 3 Commentary
First off, let’s cover what Vellum is, as well as the different packages and pricing available.
What is Vellum?
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Vellum is a book creation tool for Mac that allows you to professionally format books for publication. The Vellum software is free to download and use, but you’ll need to purchase a package to actually export your files to publish.
Vellum 2 1 3 As A Percent
The Vellum package options are:
1. Vellum Ebooks — allows you to create and export unlimited ebooks.
💰Cost: $199.99
2. Vellum Press — allows you to create and export unlimited ebooks and paperbacks.
💰Cost: $249.99
If you purchase Vellum Ebooks first, you can upgrade to Vellum Press for an additional $99.99. However, the mathematically-minded user will realize that this is $50 more than you’d pay for Vellum Press alone. So if there’s even a chance that you’ll end up printing your books, you might want to invest in Vellum Press outright.
These prices might seem pretty steep for publishing software, but keep in mind that you’re not just going to be using Vellum as a replacement for Microsoft Word. Indeed, its primary function is formatting, not writing, and its features allow for fairly sophisticated book design. Its strengths include great import and export abilities, style templates, and a multi-platform previewing tool — all of which we’ll cover below.
Did you know? The material “vellum” is parchment made from stretched calfskin, used by writers for centuries in lieu of paper. Though it’s much rarer nowadays, vellum is still used for certain religious and archival purposes, such as printing scrolls of the Torah and the British Acts of Parliament.
Key features of Vellum 2.5.3
📥 Import capabilities
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Though just about every book formatting tool allows you to import other documents, Vellum’s import capabilities are quite impressive. You can only import Word .docx files (which makes sense, given that this software is only available for Mac), but the conversion is instantaneous and pretty seamless. Your entire book appears in the app right away, with chapter breaks inserted automatically, as long as you’ve denoted them with headings in the original document.
You can then edit directly in the app, though your bold, italics, and other basic formatting will carry over. Finally, you can do special formatting, such as ornamental breaks (which you can customize yourself!).
The only hiccup we found with Vellum’s importer was that it occasionally messes up the spacing in the first chapter. However, this can be fixed in-app by simply deleting the extra spaces. Some users have also reported chapters being clumped together or out of order. To fix this, just select the configuration icon next to the heading and then choose “Convert To.”
If you’d like to test out the importer (or any of the following features) yourself, you can do so using the sample documents provided on the Vellum Tutorial page.
📖 Book Styles
If any one feature makes Vellum worth its hefty price tag, it’s Book Styles. Once you’ve arranged your chapters to your heart’s content, you can navigate to this panel (under “Styles” on the left) to tailor just about every other aspect of your formatting and interior design. Start by selecting the overall aesthetic of your book under the main Book Style heading (with stylishly named options such as “Meridian,” “Artisanal,” and “Oxford”). Then go on to customize just about everything else!
For example, remember how we said you can cherry-pick those ornamental line breaks between sections? Vellum provides no less than seven built-in designs, plus the option to upload your own image to use as the “ornament.” The Book Style panel also supplies multiple options for chapter titles and first paragraphs (including various fonts and drop caps), as well as block quotes, verses, and even images.
Past versions of the Vellum software have struggled to incorporate images into the text, but the newest version has more or less cracked the formula. There’s still no viable option for a full spread of custom-placed images (as you might see with photos in the middle of a biography, for example), but you can easily insert in-line images, or a single image that takes up a whole page.
As you switch back and forth among the different styles, Vellum will also display each option in an e-reader preview on the right, so you can get a sneak peek at the final product. Speaking of which, those previews aren’t just for experimenting with Book Styles…
👀 Preview mode
Another helpful feature of Vellum is its Preview mode. Most formatting tools have a preview mode of sorts, but Vellum’s is particularly thorough. It allows you to see how your book layout will look on a wide variety of e-readers: Kindle Fire and Paperwhite, Apple iPad and iPhone, Nook SimpleTouch, Kobo Glo, and Android tablet. Simply click on the tablet icon in the toolbar to select your mode of choice.
You can also preview how your pages would appear in a print book. Vellum definitely shines here, as it has both Draft mode (for looking at the overall text) and Proof mode (for scrutinizing the layout and design). The only downside is that Proof mode can be a bit slow to run. So if you’re using Vellum to preview a print book, you should probably save the “Proof” preview until your very last once-over.
📤 Export capabilities
Finally, we have Vellum’s export capabilities, which match its trusty import capabilities: the app exports smoothly and true to preview. As long as you’ve checked over your book on every kind of e-reader, you should have no trouble. Naturally, it also exports in various file types for ebooks, and different trim sizes for print books.
However, it’s easy to forget that you won’t be able to export files from Vellum without paying for a full package — and you don’t want to frustrate yourself by designing the perfect book, only to realize you don’t actually have the budget for it. So be honest with yourself about what you’re willing (and able) to spend, and weigh your formatting options carefully before you begin this process. Luckily, our next section should help you with that!
Overall pros and cons of Vellum
👍 Pros
- Various professional, aesthetically pleasing formatting options with Book Styles.
- Can include links to external sources and your other books.
- Preview function helps clearly envision the final product, whether it’s an ebook or print book.
- No limit to the number of books you can export after you’ve purchased a package — great for authors self-publishing long series, and even has built-in box set capabilities.
👎 Cons
- Much more expensive to use than comparable book formatting tools, such as Apple Pages (free), Kindle Create (free), the Reedsy Book Editor (free), and Scrivener ($45).
- Not available for PC — though you can still use Vellum on a PC, if you’re willing to pay for access to a “virtual” Mac.
- Doesn’t lend itself well to substantial textual edits. For example, if you write a new sentence to replace an old one, but then want to undo the typing (Ctrl+Z), Vellum will undo each individual letter rather than the whole sentence at once. (This is why, though it can be used as a word processor, we recommend waiting to import your book into Vellum until you have a final draft.)
The bottom line
Vellum software is a solid investment if you’re planning on self-publishing multiple books, especially if you’ve been dissatisfied with other DIY formatting options in the past. However, if this is only your first book, and/or you’re not sure whether you’ll go the self-publishing or traditional publishing route, it’s best to hold off for now — especially if you’re on a budget, since $199.99 (at minimum) is nothing to sneeze at.
In the meantime, why not check out some free book formatting tools, just to get a feel for the process? (We hear that RBE is pretty cool.) Or if you’re on the hunt for premium writing apps, but don’t quite have Vellum-deep pockets, there are many great pieces of novel writing software that are less taxing on the wallet. Don’t be afraid to try out lots of different options: that’s the only way to find out what’s right for you!
Have you used Vellum to format your books? If so, tell us about it in the comments — and if not, leave a question for someone who has!