Siddur Mikol ha-Shanah (Order of Prayer for the Entire Year), Printed on Vellum, Mantua: Messer Venturin Rufinello, Shevat [5]318 (=21 December 1557-19 January 1558)

144 leaves. (5½ x 3 5/8 in.; 140 x 92 mm). Printed on vellum, two parts bound in one volume. Part one,quires 23-27 only (comprising Haggadah). Part two complete save for additional title page called for in Sabin Hill; quire 24 misbound. Woodcut printer's device appears on f. 27_{8v. as well as on final leaf; occasional staining and soiling; censor's inscription (Luigi da Bologna, 1601) on final leaf. Nineteenth-century maroon quarter calf stamped "D-G"; edges and joints rubbed.}

Obscured Italian ms. exlibris on last page dated "1649"

Freimann, Die hebraischen Pergamentdrucke, 79; Vinograd, Mantua, 60; Brad Sabin Hill, "Catalogue of Hebrew Books Printed on Vellum." Books printed on Vellum in the Collections of the British Library. (with R.C. Alston). London: The British Library, 1995. p. 204: C.49.a12; p.205.C.49.a11-12

144 leaves. (5½ x 3 5/8 in.; 140 x 92 mm). Printed on vellum, two parts bound in one volume. Part one,quires xxiii-xxvii only (comprising Haggadah). Part two complete save for additional title page called for in Sabin Hill; quire xxiv misbound. Woodcut printer's device appears on f. 27(1)8v. as well as on last page; occasional staining and soiling, contemporary censorship: "corrected by me Fra Luigi of 1601" written on last page. Nineteenth century maroon quarter calf stamped "D-G"; edges and joints rubbed.
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Before the invention of the printing press, parchment, with its strength and durability, was the material of choice most predominantly used by scribes in the production of books.  With the advent of printing came the new dominance of paper as a writing surface. Proportionally however, more books were printed on vellum in the first fifty years of printing than at any other time, in part, because fifteenth-century printers were still actively competing with the manuscript.  It soon became clear though that procuring the vast quantities of animal skins required to produce books would prove to be both difficult and expensive while, techniques and costs for making paper made it an increasingly more affordable alternative.  By the mid-sixteenth century, printing on very fine parchment, or vellum, was reserved for luxury copies of books. The Mantua  printing house of Venturino Ruffinello was the most prolific in the production of vellum copies.