Bilbo's contract: paper or parchment?

wired has a lawyer parse the contract.

Bilbo was entitled to keep the ring, but probably wasn't entitled to take the Arkenstone as his part of the stash without the Dwarves okay.

but it doesn't answer the question: Paper or parchment?

The maps of Middle Earth are usually shown on a yellowish paper, suggesting parchment, but was the contract here and Bilbo's book written on parchment or did they have the means to make paper in Middle Earth?

Gandalf mentions searching the scrolls for information, which would mean papyrus paper which is stored in scrolls, but in the film he is searching flat paper, suggesting parchment or paper made in imitation of parchment. If the paper was low acid and made from linen or cotton it would have a longer shelf life than today's paper, made from trees, unless they had a way to make low acid paper, which also lasts quite a long time.... Since parchment lasts a lot longer than paper and is easier to make, maybe Isuldur's message was on parchment.

Wikipedia on parchment.

In the later Middle Ages, parchment was largely replaced by paper. New techniques in paper milling allowed it to be much cheaper and more abundant than parchment. With the advent of printing in the later fifteenth century, the demands of printers far exceeded the supply of animal skins for parchment.

Medieval papermaking. 

Paper was made from rags, usually linen. The rags were dampened and left to rot for four or five days. They were then placed in a stamping mill which transformed the rotting rags into a pulp of long fibers.....

and yes, the source of the rags was underware.

Everyone thinks the printing press led to increased literacy among the average man in the middle ages, but that just might not be the case. Dr Marco Mostert a historian from Utrecht University is instead suggesting that the availability of cheap paper was the main reason more reading material became available. While this isn’t surprising the source of the new cheap paper is. It seems that, according to Dr. Mostert,
“These rags came from discarded clothes, which cost much less than the very expensive parchment which was previously used for books. In the 13th century, so it is thought, as more people moved into urban centres, the use of underwear increased – which caused an increase in the number of rags available for paper-making.”

 In James Burke's book/TV show connections, medieval paper was made from discarded linen that replaced parchment: what pushed paper was the increase in people wearing and discarding underware after the black plague caused an economic boom (since labor was scarce, they were paid more).
Or maybe the end of the medieval warm period had something to do with the fact people needed two layers of clothing to stay warm?

Connections can be watched at Youtube.




As for Bilbo's contract: paper or parchment?

I guess it depends if Middle Earth learned how to make paper, which was invented in China...Maybe the dwarves had contacts there to import silk and ideas?

and yes, you can buy a copy of the contract at Amazon....