CHAPTER XX.* 



PAPER, PARCHMENT, INK, BOOKS, ETC. 



IN my first volume (p. 644) I commented on such entries 

 of paper during the fourteenth century as appeared in the 

 earlier accounts. The use of this article was rare, and long 

 after it became common, the custom continued of engrossing 

 the rolls of the bailiffs, stewards, or rent collectors of the 

 several estates, which were annually rendered to wealthy private 

 owners, and to corporations, on parchment. Such accounts 

 exist by thousands in the national archives. 



But from the beginning of the fifteenth century paper is 

 commonly used, especially in the eastern counties, for what 

 I may call domestic registers. The accounts of the King's 

 Hall are all written on paper, as are all those of King's College, 

 as far as regards expenditure and audit within the colleges 

 themselves. The register of Oriel College, Oxford, which begins 

 in the fifteenth century, is on paper, as are all the domestic 

 accounts of that society, which was poor till it received the 

 bequest of Franke in the first half of the fifteenth century. But 

 on the other hand the accounts of New College are almost 

 always on parchment, especially the annual roll on which the 

 heads of expenditure are given. So are also the Magdalen 

 College indentures. But this last college likewise possesses a 

 large volume of rough entries, the particulars of which have 

 been of the highest value to me in the course of my enquiries, 

 and which are written on paper. The accounts of Peterhouse, 

 Cambridge, which are more copious in the earlier period than 

 at later times, are always on parchment. 



Paper is more commonly used on what may be called the 

 commercial side of England. All or nearly all the accounts 



