Many of us are passionate about teaching. Many of us are teachers, whether formally or informally. But have you ever used a hornbook in your teaching? 

When I stumbled upon a thick book (488 pages long!) entitled History of The Horn-Book,¹ I wondered why I had never heard of a hornbook when there seems to be so much to say about its history! Hornbooks were in common use across social classes for over 300 years, from the fifteenth to the late eighteenth century, in Britain and America (both North and South).

So what is a hornbook? Not a book about horns, nor a book in the shape of a horn. How about a book made of horn? Getting closer.

A hornbook is teaching made handy. Literally.

They were shaped like a bat, rectangular with a handle, easy for children to hold. They usually contained the alphabet, the nine digits or the Lord’s Prayer.² They were portable, could be attached to a string or belt, and were used for learning to count, reading or memorising prayers. So hornbooks played an important role in the spread of literacy.

The author of this book explains how hornbooks came about:

‘For in those days, as in these, children were prone to destruction, and without taking into account the innocent mischief resulting from damp and grubby paws, they doubtless turned their master’s careful handiwork into boats, or sent it skyward trailing behind their kites.’³

In other words, paper used by teachers was expensive at the time and needed protection, and this is where hornbooks came in.

I have been reflecting on how as conservators we face similar challenges. We also fear ‘grubby paws’ and careless handling, although paper planes out of manuscripts would be an extreme case. We think about how to protect our material heritage in order to preserve it as long as possible, whilst making it available to a wide and diverse audience.

So how did hornbooks protect the fifteenth-century teachers’ teaching aids?

A typical hornbook would be made of a wooden support and a printed or manuscript text on paper, with a thin layer of horn placed on top (hence the name), and these layers were held together by a narrow frame of brass. The horn was thin enough that one could see through it and still read the text, and strong enough to protect the paper behind it from damage. But hornbooks could be made of a variety of materials; some were ornate while others remained simple. Other materials used included parchment, glass, leather, and metals (including silver).

There is so much more I could say about this wonderful little teaching aid! If you are passing through London and are interested in finding out more about hornbooks, I would recommend going to the Wellcome Library to see this amazing book, which tells us a lot about their history. This book is part of the Conservation Library of the Wellcome Collection, free and accessible to readers (you need to register online). It has many beautiful illustrations throughout, but the best part is that at the back, there are three little examples of hornbooks: one of oak with an embossed leather decoration; one of card with marbled paper at the back; and one of ivory. If you wanted to get a real feel for what these handy little teaching tools were, here is the opportunity!

Endnotes

• ¹History of The Horn-Book by Andrew W. Tuer, 1897.
• ²The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verses 9 to 13.
• ³History of The Horn-Book by Andrew W. Tuer, 1897, p. 2.

Rebecca D’Ambrosio graduated with an MA Conservation from Camberwell College of Arts, London, in 2016, specialising in books and archival materials. She has since been working in archives, libraries and galleries as a project conservator, exhibitions and loans conservator, and freelance book and paper conservator. Through these roles and in attending courses, she has also gained experience in the conservation and mounting of works of art on paper  and photographs, as well as the conservation of frames. Rebecca is now working as an installation conservator at the National Portrait Gallery, preparing framed paintings, works of art on paper, and photographs for their display ahead of the re-opening of the transformed gallery in June 2023.