Paper

[kopend]

what is the special paper that they use in the hose of commons that lasts up to 5000 years

[hc4361]

Velum

[hc4361]

Apologies, it is vellum

[fiction-factory]

I lov dem hose
Is this a quiz question?

[fiction-factory]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vellum

[hc4361]

There was an interesting discussion about this on the Jeremy Vine show yesterday

[fiction-factory]

It can lasta long time but needs to be kept in special conditions, but i don't think it lasts anywhere near 500 years.

[fiction-factory]

^that should have said anywhere near 5000 years

[Mamyalynne]

I think there is a campaign to end the use of it.


http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article4594895.ece

[hc4361]

It lasts far longer than any other medium (media?). A point was made that if the laws of the land were only stored on digital media then it would be possible for nefarious people to alter them.

[Buenchico]

From the Commons Select Committee last month:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/administration-committee/news-parliament-2015/publication-of-first-report/

[bhg481]

hc4361 - we went to see the magna carta at Saliburry cathdral and the exhibition with it shows how they were able to correct errors on the vellum, so perhaps nothing is safe.

Scrape it with a pen-knife and then re-write it is the method.

[hc4361]

bhg, easier to change something stored in The Cloud, though :)

[Peter Pedant]

yup and if you scrape the whole lot and re use it as newspaper or something then it is called a palimpsest

Paper is relatively late and the time it lasts will of course depend on storage conditions

There was very little in Egypt before 1000 AD - and it survives in good condition in the dry desert
so 5000 y is a long shot

I think people are thinking about the Victorian paper production which involved acid and that accounts why some victorian publications are falling apart and some eighteenth century books are still in good condition

[atalanta]

True vellum or parchment is made from animal skin, rather like leather. In museums there are plenty of pieces of parchment which have lasted over a thousand years. If not deliberately damaged or exposed to damp or decay or pests, like mice, parchment is almost eternal. Book of Kells, Lindisfarne Gospels, etc etc

[Svejk]

According to HIGNFY it's made from goatskin. Time to sack the researchers?

[Peter Pedant]

but not a/c wiki

Vellum is derived from the Latin word "vitulinum" meaning "made from calf", leading to Old French "vélin" ("calfskin").[1] The term often refers to a parchment made from calf skin, as opposed to that from other animals.[2]

hell these researchers never stick to their word ....

[zebo]

HIGNFY was very funny, Rees-Mogg takes it well, but needs to learn to hand it out too, Boris-like.