Object number
52/344
Description
This horn book was found in an attic of Great Folly Farm, in Leigh on Sea, Essex, when the fifteenth-century building was demolished. The attic had been sealed off for a long time, probably since about 1800. At the time of discovery it was suggested that the attic room might have at one time been a child's bedroom. However, it seems more likely that the book was deliberately deposited in the attic as an apotropaic device to protect the home. 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.
Physical description
1 horn - book: wood (oak); brick-dust paper; horn; brass
Archival history
MERL 'Catalogue index' card – ‘… // DATE ACQUIRED: // GROUP: // NEGATIVE: // PERIOD: // PLACE OF ORIGIN: // NUMBER: // DESCRIPTION: …‘ True hornbooks with horn faces were probably used as early as 1450 but not untio the close of the 16th Century were they common. By the end of the 18th Century the demand for hornbooks had practically ceased altogether. Tablets of a similar nature and purpose had of course been used for many centuries before this. // Hornbooks were peculiar to England and N America but they were manufactured to a large extent in Holland and later in France and italy as well as England. A fescue or pointer was used in conjuction with the hornbook. The child or teacher held the hornbook and the child had to read the letters pointed out. Some hornbooks showed the alphabet only but others included othet things particularly the Lord's Prayer. Early hornbooks were written, not printed, and some did not have handles. These were used to learn writing and were therefore more stationary. // The cross at the beginning of the alphabet was called Christ's Cross or the criss-cross and that row of letters the Chris-cross-row. The whole alphabet came to be known by many as the Christ-cross-row, lane or line, or cross row, there were many variations on this name. // A hornbook is made of a thin piece of oak cut into a oblong with a short handle coming out of one end. Over this, leather (p[articularly in early specimens) was glued and a pattern impresses on the back and handle by a heated brass block. Sometimes paper was used instead of leather and sometimes the oak was not covered at all. The printed sheet was also glued on one side, horn laid over it and thin strips of brass were laid round the edge, these were fastened on by 8, or occasionally more, rose head tacks. The rose head tack is one with four facets, made by hand, these were replaced in about 1820 by cheaper machine made flat headed tacks. // It is not possible to date hornbooks accurately. Cast leaden and engraved ivory tablets were also used and hornbooks have been backed by iron and silver on occasion. // Children often wore their horn-books dangling from a string tied to their waists, or round their necks. These horn-books always had a hole in them for the string to pass through. In the early 19th century when a few horn-books were still being made, card was often used instead of wood, horn was often dispensed with by the use of varnish. The type altered also and the cross at the beginning of the alphabet which had steadily been losing its religious significance was replaced by an X. // ... // Bibliography // Andrew W. Tuer 'History of the Horn-book' 2nd Ed. 1897 // Leadenhall Press.
Production date
1725 - 1800
Object name
Material
Associated subject