18th Century Hornbooks

Last updated: Sep 3, 2024

A horn book typically consists of a wooden panel mounted with a piece of paper (bearing the letters of the alphabet and the Lord’s Prayer) protected by a transparent piece of cattle horn. Cambridge SSS.34.33 and American History 253339 are fairly representative examples corresponding with this common definition of what is a hornbook. (Johnson defines a hornbook as “The firſt book of children, covered with horn to keep it unſoiled.”)

However, some 18th century hornbooks are made of ivory, bone, or silver. Several colonial hornbooks only display the alphabet, while others display numerals as well.

Later mass-produced publications for teaching the alphabet are sometimes called “battledores.” A late 18th century dictionary provides the earlier definition for a battledore – “An Inſtrument to play at Shuttle-cock or Tennis with” – with the supplemental definition, “A Battledore, or Horn-book, becauſe it has much the ſame Shape.” University of Washington Libraries CHL0941 is a battledore published in 1830.

• Hayden Library SPEC OBJ S-4, “Alphabet in roman upper case (no J or U); Made in England; Paper under horn in a lead frame; remains of incised decoration visible on front”
• Columbia University Plimpton Hornbook No. 6, a wooden mold for making gingerbread hornbooks, 18th century. Such edible hornbooks were described in Matthew Prior’s Alma, or Progress of the Mind: “To Master John the English Maid / A Horn-book gives of Ginger-bread: / And that the Child may learn the better, / As He can name, He eats the Letter: / Proceeding thus with vast Delight, / He spells, and gnaws, from Left to Right.” See Birmingham Museums 1965T4049 (photo) for similar molds.
• Boston Public Library RARE BKS G. Cab. 3.52, c. 1700-1750; “A single hornbook made of oak. The printed sheet is secured with a brass-tacked frame and a piece of flattened horn. It contains a 26-letter alphabet preceded by Christ’s cross and followed by a syllabary and the Lord's Prayer. A small hole is present on the upper edge of the oak paddle, likely the remnant of an early fastener that allowed this hornbook to be worn around the neck.”
• V&A M.2-1995, a silver horn book that Queen Anne gave to her godson, Master Guy Selbright, “engraved with versions of the alphabet in both capital and lower-case letters and the Lord’s Prayer,” c. 1705
• Derbyshire Record Office D8760/F/OBJ/10, horn book with the letters of the alphabet and the Lord’s Prayer, belonging to Honor Borrow, daughter of Isaac Borrow Esquire of Derby, c. 1715-1725
• University of Reading 52/344, a horn book dating to c. 1725-1800, found in an attic of Great Folly Farm, in Leigh on Sea, Essex; “The horn book is made of oak. It is covered with conventional brick-dust coloured paper. There is very little horn left, just a thin strip remains underneath parts of the brass strip.”
• Columbia University Plimpton Hornbooks No. 17, a metal hornbook from St. Paul’s Infant School, 1729; see also Boston Public Library RARE BKS H.92.87, British Museum 1922,0610.1, University of Washington CHL1053, and Hayden Library SPEC OBJ S-6.
• American History Museum 253339, 18th century; “A thin piece of transparent horn protectively covers the printed paper which is fastened to a piece of wood in the shape of a butter paddle.” See also Eighteenth Century Horn Book
• Cambridge University Library SSS.34.33, an 18th century hornbook; “a printed leaf containing the alphabet and Lord’s Prayer mounted on wood, covered by a thin covering of translucent horn and secured in place by a metal rim”
• Skinner Auctions October 26, 2014, Lot 157, English or American hornbook, 18th century
• New York Public Library Rare Book Division *KVH, 18th century New England hornbook with the alphabet and the Lord’s Prayer
• Library of Congress Z1033.H8 W6 1800z, a wooden hornbook, possibly American; “with alphabet in lower and uppercases, followed by vowels, ligatures, and the Lord's prayer. Paper text covered with translucent horn tacked to the face. Two-line abacus with 12 beads in cutout at top. Carved indentions on verso.”
• Hayden Library SPEC OBJ S-8, c. 1750; “Recto, alphabet in roman upper case (u and v transposed); verso, alphabet in roman lower case (long s, u and v transposed), ampersand, vowels. Made in England … Ivory tablet ca. 2 mm. thick ; letters engraved, then filled with black ink. Flower decorations on both sides, engraved, colored red and green.”
• Hayden Library SPEC OBJ S-5, c. 1750; “Text: Alphabet in italic upper case (no J or U); ampersand; numerals 1-9 and 0. Made in England. Vellum (?) under horn stitched into a leather frame without wooden reinforcement; printed in red; hole in handle for attaching carrying cord.”
• National Library of Scotland Mas.1060(6), c. 1750-1800; “A leaf of paper mounted in board and covered with a transparent sheet of cattle horn to protect it.”
• National Library of Scotland Mas.1060(7), a child’s hornbook, c. 1750-1800; “ contains the alphabet in upper and lower case and the Lord’s Prayer. Note that there are only 24 letters in the alphabet rather than 26, as the letters 'I' and 'J', 'U' and 'V' were often used interchangeably until the late 18th century.” See also Mas. 1060 (7)
• V&A MISC.239-1978, a bone hornbook with the alphabet incised on one side and a flower motif on the other, English, 1785-1815
• Bourgeault-Horan Antiquarians August 18, 2018, Lot 113, an English engraved bone hornbook, late 18th century; “Of paddle form, the letters of the alphabet engraved and filled with black ink, one side with upper case letters, the other side with lower case letters including two forms of the letter "s," the handle engraved with a leafy stem and pierced with a strap hole. 3 13/16 x 1 3/4 inches.”
• Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation YP96.15, an English bone hornbook, late 18th century
• National Library of New Zealand 407389, “ivory horn book, the tablet measuring 100mm x 50mm, including integral handle, and barely more than 1mm thick, with sunken letters filled with black pigment; the upper face showing the alphabet in capitals and the lower the alphabet in small letters with an additional long 's', finishing with the ampersand; with, on both sides of the handle, prettily engraved flowers decorated with the remains of the original green, purple and pink pigment,” c. 1795; see also A hornbook arrives in the collection
• Library of Congress Z1033.H8 E54 1800z, an English hornbook made of ivory and silver, c. 1800
• UCLA CBC PE1118 .H67 1700, a hornbook made of wood, leather, paper, and horn, c. 1800
• National Constitution Center INDE 105780, a wooden tablet inscribed with the alphabet, found in Philadelphia