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With increasing demand, Papyrus became scarce and expensive. It is traditionally claimed that the Turkish King Eumenes II of Pergamum (197 -159BCE) developed a cheaper alternative substrate from animal skins called parchment, although there is evidence that it had been around much longer than that.. He had built up a library at Pergamon – one of the greatest libraries in the ancient world. The animal skins are soaked in an alkaline solution and then the surface is scraped to remove all the hairs. The very finest qualities, called vellum, are made from calf skin which are still used today in certain circumstances, such as ceremonial royal documents.

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