Papyrus, Parchment and Paper

Papyrus (from the plant papyrus) was used for writing in about 3000BC in Egypt.

Parchment or vellum (animal skin) was used about 150 BC, and continued to be used by the Christian monks in Europe in the Middle Ages. The original copy of the book of Kells is written on vellum.

Paper( mulberry tree bark, and bamboo pulp) was invented by the Chinese in 105 AD, developed further in Korea and then Japan( shortly after the arrival of Buddhism in Japan) in 610 AD, arrived in Samarkand and Baghdad along the Silk Rout in the 8th Century AD, and Europe by 1200's

Paper was widely used in Europe after the invention of printing by Gutenberg in 1452.