Instead, researchers have now confirmed that the books were bound in seal skin, an unusual material for manuscripts found in mainland Europe. “These books are too rough and far too hairy to be ...

They had expected something like boar or deer skin, but analysis of proteins brought the surprising discovery. "It turned out the fingerprints matched seal skin," Collins said. "You're talking ...

This book is among nearly 100 found in France by researchers at the University of Cambridge to be bound with seal skin. The books belong to a French monastery from the 12th century. (Matthew ...

An international team of archaeologists, bioinformatic specialists, and historians has discovered that many medieval books were bound using seal skin. In their paper published in the journal Royal ...

“I sent it again, and it came back as seal skin again.” The team also investigated fuzzy books from Clairvaux’s “daughter abbeys” elsewhere in France, as well as in England and Belgiu ...

Other than the color, the reason why the monks chose to bind their books in seal skin remains a mystery. “We have no written records to explain why monks chose to cover these manuscripts in ...