![HORN BOOK -- Creation woodcut, first used in the Coverdale Bible [Cologne and/or Marburg: Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?, 1535], mounted on a wooden paddle (280 x 165mm) and glazed with horn, affixed with leather strips secured by 'rose-head' iron tacks, the handle incised with a cross and with a hole for carrying strap (small unobtrusive tear to printed leaf).](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2001/CKS/2001_CKS_06456_0023_000(030309).jpg?w=1)
Details
HORN BOOK -- Creation woodcut, first used in the Coverdale Bible [Cologne and/or Marburg: Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?, 1535], mounted on a wooden paddle (280 x 165mm) and glazed with horn, affixed with leather strips secured by 'rose-head' iron tacks, the handle incised with a cross and with a hole for carrying strap (small unobtrusive tear to printed leaf).
An early and impressive example of a child's learning tool, this horn book is particularly notable for its Creation woodcut. This woodcut first appeared in the Coverdale Bible (the first edition of the Bible in English); it was re-used in subsequent 16th-century English Bibles. The image, with its two horizontal compartments of 3 images depicting the 6 days of Creation, derives iconographically from a Creation woodcut in the first illustrated Italian bible (Venice: Ragazzo, for Luc Antonio Giunta, 1490). Cf. STC 2063; cf. Herbert 18
Together with: 4 other horn books -- A wooden horn book (142 x 72mm), the recto with printed alphabet on paper leaf glazed with horn and edged with brass strips secured by metal tacks, the handle with hole for carrying strap; a wooden horn book (122 x 51mm), the recto with printed alphabet on bone, glazed with horn secured by brass strips secured with iron tacks, the handle with hole, framed (lacking 3 tacks, 1 brass strip loose); a leather-covered horn book (110 x 75mm), the recto with manuscript alphabet and vowels in red ink on paper; a bone horn book (123 x 71mm) engraved with alphabet in black pigment with flower motif below, handle with hole, cf. A. Tuer, History of the Horn-Book, London: 1896, cut 46a.
In use from the 15th century through to the early 19th century, the hornbook was a popular primer for children. It originally took the form of a sheet of vellum or paper, usually printed with the alphabet or Lord's Prayer, mounted on wood and protected with a thin sheet of horn. It often had a hole in its handle so it could be hung from a child's girdle. The hornbook evolved into various different forms, the ivory or bone hornbook becoming widespread in the latter half of the 18th century and early 19th century (Tuer). (5)
An early and impressive example of a child's learning tool, this horn book is particularly notable for its Creation woodcut. This woodcut first appeared in the Coverdale Bible (the first edition of the Bible in English); it was re-used in subsequent 16th-century English Bibles. The image, with its two horizontal compartments of 3 images depicting the 6 days of Creation, derives iconographically from a Creation woodcut in the first illustrated Italian bible (Venice: Ragazzo, for Luc Antonio Giunta, 1490). Cf. STC 2063; cf. Herbert 18
Together with: 4 other horn books -- A wooden horn book (142 x 72mm), the recto with printed alphabet on paper leaf glazed with horn and edged with brass strips secured by metal tacks, the handle with hole for carrying strap; a wooden horn book (122 x 51mm), the recto with printed alphabet on bone, glazed with horn secured by brass strips secured with iron tacks, the handle with hole, framed (lacking 3 tacks, 1 brass strip loose); a leather-covered horn book (110 x 75mm), the recto with manuscript alphabet and vowels in red ink on paper; a bone horn book (123 x 71mm) engraved with alphabet in black pigment with flower motif below, handle with hole, cf. A. Tuer, History of the Horn-Book, London: 1896, cut 46a.
In use from the 15th century through to the early 19th century, the hornbook was a popular primer for children. It originally took the form of a sheet of vellum or paper, usually printed with the alphabet or Lord's Prayer, mounted on wood and protected with a thin sheet of horn. It often had a hole in its handle so it could be hung from a child's girdle. The hornbook evolved into various different forms, the ivory or bone hornbook becoming widespread in the latter half of the 18th century and early 19th century (Tuer). (5)
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