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Hornbooks

What is a Hornbook?

It may not look like one, but a hornbook is really a book. Paper was pretty expensive once and hornbooks were made so children could learn to read without using a lot of paper. A hornbook was usually a small, wooden paddle with just one sheet of paper glued to it. But because that paper was so expensive, parents and teachers wanted to protect it. So they covered the paper with a very thin piece of cow's horn. The piece of cow's horn was so thin, you could see right through it. That's why these odd books were called "hornbooks."

What was on the paper?

The paper usually had the alphabet, some pairs of letters, and a religious verse, often the Lord's Prayer.

Were all the hornbooks the same?

No. Some hornbooks were quite fancy. Many were made out of metal, sometimes even silver. Others had the alphabet carved into paddles made of ivory. One special kind of hornbook was made out of gingerbread. As children learned each letter of the alphabet, they were rewarded with letters to eat.

 

Samples of Hornbooks (clockwise from left)
A traditional hornbook, a small hornbook carved from ivory (with the handle snapped off), a wooden form to make gingerbread hornbooks (with a gingerbread hornbook sitting on top), and an iron hornbook

How were hornbooks used?

Children learned how to read with the help of the hornbook. The first thing they learned was the alphabet. Then, they learned how letters sounded when they were put together. That's what the pairs of letters - consonants and vowels - were used for. 

Slowly, children would learn enough to move to real words. Hornbooks often had the Lord's Prayer printed on them because children usually knew the prayer already. Teachers thought it was better to begin learning how to read with something familiar.

C'mon! Did they really use cow horns?

They sure did! The sheet of paper on hornbooks was covered with either pieces of cow or ox horn. The horns were usually soaked for several weeks in cold water. This processhelped separate the bony core from the rest of the horn. After they were separated, the outer part of the horn was heated, first for half an hour in boiling water, and then over an open fire. After being heated, the horn could be cut and molded easily.

To make sheets, the horn was cut along its length. Then the horn was heated again. Next, it was pressed flat by putting the horn between plates or by using a special machine. The craftsman needed to be careful because the horn easily split. 

Horn is made of many layers. After the horn was flattened, layers of the horn could be peeled away. These individual layers were then scraped clean and polished. Finally, the sheets of horn were trimmed to the right size for hornbooks.

Battledore

What is a battledore?

Like the hornbook, a battledore was an early kind of "reading book" for young children. Once the price of paper became cheap, companies started to make battledores instead of hornbooks. The paper used to make battledores was a thin cardboard. The card was usually cut into the shape of a rectangle and then folded in thirds. However, some early battledores were actually shaped like hornbooks.

Battledores were introduced in England in the late 1700s but they didn't become popular and widespread in the United States until the early 1800s.

What was on a battledore?

The content of a battledore was similar to that of a hornbook. Just like the hornbook, battledores included the alphabet in both capital and small letters. Both had pairs of letters as a phonics lesson. Unlike the hornbook, battledores frequently had a mixed-up alphabet with the letters out of order as a way to help children distinguish individual letters. 

Battledores also had lists of short words. Although battledores sometimes included a prayer, they normally had a short story or fable instead. Finally, a typical battledore was decorated with illustrations. These were generally pictures of everyday life that would have been familiar to children of the time.

The London New Battledore 1825




 Were all battledores the same?

Yes and no. Different battledores were more like each other than hornbooks were. Battledores generally had the same shape and size and were made out of the same kind of card paper. And they all taught the alphabet and beginning reading. But the lessons and the pictures on battledores varied from printer to printer. 

In addition, even though making hornbooks was quite an industry at one time, they were never produced on the same scale as battledores. Battledores were mass produced in large quantities. One company reported selling 100,000 between 1771 and 1780. That meant that copies of the same edition of a battledore would be nearly identical.