Parchment is a thin material made from calfskin Calfskin is a leather or membrane produced from the hide of a calf. Calfskin is particularly valuable because of its softness, and fine grain. It is commonly used for high-quality shoes, wallets and similar products, as well as traditional leather bookbindings, sheepskin Sheepskin is the hide of a sheep, sometimes also called lambskin. Unlike common leather, sheepskin is tanned with the fleece intact, as in a pelt or goatskin Non tanned goatskin is used for parchment or for drumheads or sounding boards of some musical instruments, e.g., mišnice in medieval Europe, bodhrán in Ireland, esraj in India and for instrumental drum skin named bedug in Indonesia, often split. Its most common use was as a material for writing on, for documents, notes, or the pages of a book A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other various material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each side of a leaf is called a page. A book produced in electronic format is known as an electronic book, codex A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with separate pages normally bound together and given a cover or manuscript A manuscript or handwrit is a recording of information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way. The term may also be used for information that is hand-recorded in other ways than writing, for example inscriptions that are chiselled upon a hard. It is distinct from leather Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry in that parchment is limed Liming usually refers to any process which traditionally accomplished with lime or Calcium hydroxide. Hence it may refer to: but not tanned Tanning is the process of making leather, which does not easily decompose, from the skins of animals, which do. Often this uses tannin, an acidic chemical compound. Coloring may occur during tanning. A tannery is the term for a place where these skins are processed, therefore it is very reactive with changes in relative humidity The relative humidity of an air-water mixture is defined as the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapor (ew) in the mixture to the saturated vapor pressure of water at a prescribed temperature and is not waterproof. The finer qualities of parchment are called vellum Vellum is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used. The manufacture involves the cleaning, bleaching, stretching on a frame, and scraping.

Contents

History

German parchmenter, 1568

According to the Roman Varro Marcus Terentius Varro , also known as Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus, was a Roman scholar and writer, Pliny's Natural History Naturalis Historia is an encyclopedia published circa AD 77-79 by Pliny the Elder. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman empire to the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to Pliny. He claims to be the only Roman ever to have undertaken such records (xiii.21) that parchment was invented under the patronage of Eumenes of Pergamum Pergamon, Pergamum or Pérgamo was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located 16 miles (26 km) from the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus (modern day Bakırçay), that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC. Today,,[1] as a substitute for papyrus Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt, which was temporarily not being exported from Alexandria, its only source.

Herodotus Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC (c. 484 BC – c. 425 BC). He was born in Caria, Halicarnassus (modern day Bodrum, Turkey). He is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain mentions writing on skins as common in his time, the 5th century BC; and in his Histories (v.58) he states that the Ionians of Asia Minor had been accustomed to give the name of skinsdiphtherai — to books; this word was adapted by Hellenized Jews to describe scrolls [1]. Parchment (pergamenum in Latin), however, derives its name from Pergamon, the city where it was perfected (via the French "parchemin"). In the 2nd century B.C. a great library was set up in Pergamon Pergamon, Pergamum or Pérgamo was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located 16 miles (26 km) from the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus (modern day Bakırçay), that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC. Today, that rivalled the famous Library of Alexandria The Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was probably the largest, and certainly the most famous, of the libraries of the ancient world. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and functioned as a major center of scholarship, at least until the time of Rome's conquest of Egypt,. As prices rose for papyrus and the reed used for making it was over-harvested towards local extinction in the two nomes A nome was a subnational administrative division of ancient Egypt. Today's use of the Greek nome rather than the Egyptian term sepat came about during the Ptolemaic period. Fascinated with Egypt, Greeks created many historical records about the country. These were more accessible to later Western historians and influenced their adoption of Greek of the Nile delta The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt (Lower Egypt) where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich agricultural region. From north to south that produced it, Pergamon adapted by increasing use of parchment.

Writing on prepared animal skins had a long history, however. Some Egyptian Fourth Dynasty Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to the period in the 3rd millennium B.C.E. when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley texts were written on parchment. Though the Assyrians Assyria was a kingdom centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur (Akkadian: 𒀸𒋗𒁺 𐎹 Aššūrāyu; Arabic: أشور Aššûr; Hebrew: אַשּׁוּר Aššûr, Aramaic: ܐܬܘܪ Aṯur. The term and the Babylonians Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged when Hammurabi (fl. ca. 1696 – 1654 BC, short chronology) created an empire out of the territories of the former Akkadian Empire. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use, and retained the impressed their cuneiform Cuneiform script is the earliest known writing system in the world. Cuneiform writing emerged in the Sumerian civilization of southern Iraq around the 34th century BC during the middle Uruk period, beginning as a pictographic system of writing. Cuneiform was the most widespread and historically significant writing system in the Ancient Near East on clay tablets, they also wrote on parchment from the 6th century BC onward. Rabbinic culture equated a "book" with a parchment scroll. Early Islamic texts are also found on parchment.

One sort of parchment is vellum Vellum is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used. The manufacture involves the cleaning, bleaching, stretching on a frame, and scraping, a word that is used loosely to mean parchment, and especially to mean fine parchment, but more strictly refers to parchment made from calfskin (although goatskin can be as fine in quality). The words "vellum" and "veal Veal is the meat of young cattle . Though veal can be produced from a calf of either sex and any breed, most veal comes from male calves of dairy cattle breeds. Veal has a tender texture" come from Latin vitulus, "calf", or its diminutive In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment. It is the opposite of an augmentative vitellus. In the Middle Ages The Middle Ages is a period of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The period followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and preceded the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period in a three-period division of history: Classical, Medieval, and Modern. The term "Middle Ages" (medium aevum) was coined in calfskin and split sheepskin Sheepskin is the hide of a sheep, sometimes also called lambskin. Unlike common leather, sheepskin is tanned with the fleece intact, as in a pelt were the most common materials for making parchment in England The area now called England has been settled by people of various cultures for about 35,000 years, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant and France France (pronounced /ˈfrænts/ frantss or /ˈfrɑːnts/ frahnts; French pronunciation (help·info): [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a state in Western Europe with several of its overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian,, while goatskin was more common in Italy Italy (pronounced /ˈɪtəli/ ; Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a country located partly on the European Continent and partly on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine. Other skins such as those from large animals such as horse and smaller animals such as squirrel and rabbit were also used. Whether uterine vellum (vellum made from aborted calf fetuses) was ever really used during the medieval period is still a matter of great controversy.

An English deed A deed is a signed and usually sealed legal instrument in writing used to grant a right. Deeds have historically been part of the broader category of instruments under seal, requiring only the affixing of a common seal to render them valid. Today, however, deeds are instruments in solemn form which require the author's signature and a number of written on fine parchment or vellum Vellum is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used. The manufacture involves the cleaning, bleaching, stretching on a frame, and scraping with seal A seal can be a wax seal bearing an impressed figure, or an embossed figure in paper, with the purpose of authenticating a document, but the term can also mean any device for making such impressions or embossments, essentially being a mould that has the mirror image of the figure in counter-relief, such as mounted on rings known as signet rings tag dated 1638.

There was a short period during the introduction of printing where parchment and paper were used interchangeably: although most copies of the Gutenberg Bible The Gutenberg Bible was the first major book printed with a movable type printing press, marking the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of the printed book. Widely hailed for its high aesthetic and artistic qualities, the book has iconic status in the West. It is an edition of the Vulgate, printed by Johannes Gutenberg, in are on paper, some were printed on parchment. In 1490, Johannes Trithemius Johannes Trithemius was born Johann Heidenberg. He was an abbot, cryptographer and occultist who had an influence on later occultism. The name by which he is more commonly known is derived from his native town of Trittenheim on the Mosel in Germany preferred the older methods, because "handwriting placed on parchment will be able to endure a thousand years. But how long will printing last, which is dependent on paper? For if ...it lasts for two hundred years that is a long time." [2]

In the later Middle Ages The Middle Ages is a period of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The period followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and preceded the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period in a three-period division of history: Classical, Medieval, and Modern. The term "Middle Ages" (medium aevum) was coined in, parchment was largely replaced by paper Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets. New techniques in paper milling allowed it to be much cheaper and more abundant than parchment. With the advent of printing Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing in the later fifteenth century, the demands of printers far exceeded the supply of animal skins for parchment.

The heyday of parchment use was during the medieval period, but there has been a growing revival of its use among contemporary artists since the late 20th century. Although parchment never stopped being used (primarily for governmental documents and diplomas) it had ceased to be a primary choice for artist’s supports by the end of 15th century Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historic era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe, this is a general use of the. This was partly due to its expense and partly due to its unusual working properties. Parchment consists mostly of collagen Collagen is a group of naturally occurring proteins. In nature, it is found exclusively in animals, especially in the flesh and connective tissues of mammals. It is the main component of connective tissue, and is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up about 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content. Collagen, in the form of elongated. When the water in paint media touches parchment’s surface, the collagen melts slightly, forming a raised bed for the paint, a quality highly prized by some artists. Parchment is also extremely affected by its environment and changes in humidity, which can cause buckling. Some contemporary artists also prize this quality, noting that the parchment seems alive and like an active participant in making artwork. To support the needs of the revival of use by artists, a revival in the art of making individual skins is also underway. Handmade skins are usually better prepared for artists and have fewer oily spots which can cause long-term cracking of paint than mass-produced parchment. Mass-produced parchment is usually made for lamp shades, furniture, or other interior design purposes.[3]

The radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating, or carbon dating, is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to determine the age of carbonaceous materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" (BP), "Present" techniques that are used on papyrus can be applied to parchment as well. They do not date the age of the writing but the preparation of the parchment itself. However, radiocarbon dating can often be used on the inks that make up the writing, since many of them contain organic compounds such as plant leachings, soot, and wine.[citation needed]

Manufacture

"Parchment is prepared from pelt, i.e., wet, unhaired, and limed skin, simply by drying at ordinary temperatures under tension, most commonly on a wooden frame known as a stretching frame" [4] After being flayed, the skin is soaked in water for about 1 day. This removes blood and grime from the skin and prepares it for a dehairing liquor.[5] The dehairing liquor was originally made of rotted, or fermented, vegetable matter, like beer or other liquors, but by the Middle Ages The Middle Ages is a period of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The period followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and preceded the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period in a three-period division of history: Classical, Medieval, and Modern. The term "Middle Ages" (medium aevum) was coined in an unhairing In the tanning industry the unhairing stage concerns the removal of animal hair from the skin by chemical burning of the hair root, or by chemical degradation of the hair shaft. The type of hair removal depends on the type and length of the hair itself. Two main groupings of hair removal exist: painting and drum/paddle/pit unhairing. Sheepskins— bath included Lime Lime is a general term for calcium-containing inorganic materials, in which carbonates, oxides and hydroxides predominate. Strictly speaking, lime is calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for a single mineral of the CaO composition, occurring very rarely.[citation needed] The word 'lime' originates with its earliest use as. Today, the lime solution is occasionally sharpened by the use of sodium sulfide. The liquor bath would have been in wooden or stone vats and the hides stirred with a long wooden pole to avoid contact with the alkaline The word "alkali" is derived from Arabic al qalīy = the calcined ashes, referring to the original source of alkaline substance. Ashes were used in conjunction with animal fat to produce soap, a process known as saponification solution. Sometimes the skins would stay in the unhairing bath for 8 or more days depending how concentrated and how warm the solution was kept—unhairing could take up to twice as long in winter. The vat was stirred two or three times a day to ensure the solution's deep and uniform penetration. Replacing the limewater bath also sped the process up. However, if the skins were soaked in the liquor too long, they would be weakened and not able to stand the stretching required for parchment.[5]

After soaking in water to make the skins workable, the skins were placed on a stretching frame. A simple frame with nails would work well in stretching the pelts. The skins could be attached by wrapping small, smooth rocks in the skins with rope or leather strips. Both sides would be left open to the air so they could be scraped with a sharp, semi-lunar knife A blade is the flat part of a tool, weapon, or machine that normally has a cutting edge and/or pointed end typically made of a flaking stone, such as flint, or metal, most recently steel. A blade is used to cut, stab, slash, chop, slice, thrust, position and/or place (an example of this is razor wire), or scrape (an example of this is an ink to remove the last of the hair and get the skin to the right thickness. The skins, which were made almost entirely of collagen Collagen is a group of naturally occurring proteins. In nature, it is found exclusively in animals, especially in the flesh and connective tissues of mammals. It is the main component of connective tissue, and is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up about 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content. Collagen, in the form of elongated, would form a natural glue while drying and once taken off the frame they would keep their form. The stretching allowed the fibers to become aligned running parallel to the grain.

Parchment treatments

To make the parchment more aesthetically pleasing or more suitable for the scribes A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession and helps the city keep track of its records.The profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form, lost most of its importance and status with the advent of printing. The work could involve copying books, including sacred texts, or secretarial and, special treatments were used.

According to Reed there were a variety of these treatments. Rubbing pumice powder into the flesh side of parchment while it was still wet on the frame was used to make it smooth so inks would penetrate deep into the fibres.

Powders and pastes of calcium compounds were also used to help remove grease so the ink would not run.

To make the parchment smooth and white, thin pastes (starchgrain or staunchgrain) of lime, flour, egg whites and milk were rubbed into the skins.[6]

Meliora di Curci in her paper "The History and Technology of Parchment Making" notes that parchment was not always white. "Cennini, a 15th century craftsman provides recipes to tint parchment a variety of colours including purple, indigo, green, red and peach." The Early medieval Codex Argenteus and Codex Vercellensis, the Stockholm Codex Aureus and the Codex Brixianus give a range of luxuriously produced manuscripts all on purple vellum, in imitation of Byzantine examples, like the Rossano Gospels, Sinope Gospels and the Vienna Genesis, which at least at one time are believed to have been reserved for Imperial commissions.

Many techniques for Parchment repair exist, to restore creased, torn, or incomplete parchments.

Reuse

Main article Palimpsest.

During the seventh through the ninth centuries, many earlier parchment manuscripts were scrubbed and scoured to be ready for rewriting, and often the earlier writing can still be read. These "recycled" parchments are called palimpsests. Later, more thorough techniques of scouring the surface irretrievably lost the earlier text.

Jewish parchment

A Sefer Torah, the traditional form of the Hebrew Bible, is a scroll of parchment. See also: Gevil, Klaf, and Duchsustus

The way in which parchment was processed (from hide to parchment) has undergone a tremendous evolution based on time and location. Parchment and vellum are not the sole methods of preparing animal skins for writing. In the Babylonian Talmud (Bava Batra 14B) Moses writes the first Torah Scroll on the unsplit cow-hide called gevil.

Parchment is still the only medium used by religious Jews for Torah scrolls or Tefilin and Mezuzahs, and is produced by large companies in Israel. For those uses, only hides of kosher animals are permitted. Since there are many requirements for it being fit for the religious use, the liming is usually processed under supervision of a qualified Rabbi.[7]

Additional uses of the term

In some universities, the word parchment is still used to refer to the certificate (scroll) presented at graduation ceremonies, even though the modern document is printed on paper or thin card; although doctoral graduands may be given the option of having their scroll written by a calligrapher on vellum. The University of Notre Dame still uses animal parchment for its diplomas. Similarly, University of Glasgow uses goat parchment paper for its degrees.

Plant-based parchment

See also: Parchment paper (baking)

Vegetable (paper) parchment is made by passing a waterleaf made of pulp fibers into sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid hydrolyses and solubilises the main natural organic polymer, cellulose, present in the pulp wood fibers. The paper web is then washed in water, which stops the hydrolysis of the cellulose and causes a kind of cellulose coating to form on the waterleaf. The final paper is dried. This coating is a natural non-porous cement, that gives to the vegetable parchment paper its resistance to grease and its semi-translucency.

Other processes can be used to obtain grease-resistant paper, such as by highly beating the fibers giving an even more translucent paper with the same grease resistance. Silicone and other coatings may also be applied to the parchment. One can obtain grease resistance by waxing the paper or by using fluorine-based chemicals. A silicone-coating treatment produces a cross-linked material with high density, stability and heat resistance and low surface tension which imparts good anti-stick or release properties. Chromium salts can also be used to impart moderate anti-stick properties.

Parchment craft

Historians believe that parchment craft originated as an art form in Europe during the 15th or 16th century. Parchment craft at that time occurred principally in Catholic communities, where crafts persons created lace-like items such as devotional pictures and communion cards. The craft developed over time, with new techniques and refinements being added.

Although the invention of the printing press led to a reduced interest in hand made cards and items, by the 18th century, people were regaining interest in detailed handwork. Parchment cards became larger in size and crafters began adding wavy borders and perforations.

In the 19th century, influenced by French romanticism, parchment crafters began adding floral themes and cherubs and hand embossing.

Until the 16th century, parchment craft was a European art form. However, missionaries and other settlers relocated to South America, taking parchment craft with them. As before, the craft appeared largely among the Catholic communities. Often, young girls receiving their First Communion received gifts of handmade parchment crafts.

Parchment craft today involves various techniques, including tracing a pattern with white or colored ink, embossing to create a raised effect, stippling, perforating, coloring and cutting.

Parchment craft appears in hand made cards, as scrapbook embellishments, as bookmarks, lampshades, decorative small boxes, wall hangings and more.

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Either Eumenes I — who ruled 263–241 BC — or Eumenes II — who ruled 197–158).
  2. ^ as quoted in David McKitterick, Print, Manuscript, and the Search for Order Cambridge University Press, 2003
  3. ^ For examples of contemporary artists using parchment see: For an example of a contemporary parchment maker see:
  4. ^ Reed, Ronald Ancient Skins Parchments and Leathers published 1972 by Seminar Press Ltd. Berkeley Square London WIX 6BA
  5. ^ a b Reed, 1975.
  6. ^ See for example recipes in the Secretum Philosophorum
  7. ^ Information Leaflet by Vaad Mishmereth Staam.

Bibliography

Sources
Further reading

External links

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Parchment renunion marks papermaking history - Kalamazoo Gazette - MLive.com
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Parchment renunion marks papermaking history - Kalamazoo Gazette - MLive.com
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renunion marks papermaking history Kalamazoo Gazette - MLive.com Historic photo to accompany story about the Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment plant. This photo shows an aerial view of the mill. Hundreds of former employees, ... Parchment reunion marks papermaking history: 'A mill town is a unique sort of ... Kalamazoo Gazette - MLive.com
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July 24, 2010...12:40 am. . Parchment. Prints. Jump to Comments. . Parchment. Prints featuring an excerpt from Endings are up in the web store right now. Check them out. Leave a Comment. Filed under Uncategorized ...

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Is Parchment paper the same as Wax paper? What do you use wax paper for?
Q. Is Parchment paper the same as Wax paper? What do you use wax paper for? What do you use wax paper for? Why does Wax Paper cause the oven to get smokey?
Asked by Baby S - Fri Oct 20 13:51:52 2006 - - 5 Answers - 4 Comments

A. Wax Paper (wax coated paper) Typical1 Inexpensive: one side of the paper is coated with wax. Comparison: parchment paper (left) isn't as transparent as wax paper (right). "Good"2 Regularly or moderately priced: both sides of the paper are coated with wax; almost double the price of typical wax paper . Uses: Preventing sticking, by lining baking pans: cakes, cookies, meat products. Preventing splattering: cooking foods in the microwave: e.g. bacon, burgers, etc. Making chocolate decorations: e.g. spirals or trellises, see Basket Cake. Making cones for piping decorations: e.g. chocolate streams, etc.; freezer bags can also be used. Advantages: Depending on the food baked, sometimes the food may stick onto the paper1+2: not… [cont.]
Answered by mudd_grip - Fri Oct 20 14:00:46 2006

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