Strange “hairy” covers of books in medieval Europe were made from seal skin obtained from Viking descendants, a new study has found. It is rare to find medieval manuscripts in their original ...

Strange “hairy” covers of books in medieval Europe were made from seal skin obtained from Viking descendants, a new study has found.. It is rare to find medieval manuscripts in their original ...

In medieval Europe, some handcrafted books were bound with skin from an unexpected source: seals.A new analysis of ancient DNA found in medieval books from European abbeys reveals that these seals ...

The material on the covers of books from a French abbey was too hairy to have come from calves or other local mammals. Researchers identified its more distant origin.

The team scanned a three-book set of “Historia animalium,” an encyclopedia of animals printed in the 16th century. One book would serve as a control, the researchers decided, because its cover ...

This medieval book, kept at the Médiathèque du Grand Troyes in France, is wrapped with seal skin. Though the book's cover is now worn, it may have been much furrier in its heyday.

The two pages are from a 13th century copy of the “Suite Vulgate du Merlin.” The manuscript, handwritten by a medieval scribe in Old French, served as the sequel to the legend of King Arthur.

Strange “hairy” covers of books in medieval Europe were made from seal skin obtained from Viking descendants, a new study has found. It is rare to find medieval manuscripts in their original bindings, ...

Conservator Sally Kilby and Błażej Mikuła photograph inside the folds of a medieval manuscript that was used as the cover for another book later on. - Cambridge University Library Sign up for ...