book (documentary artefacts)

Wooden reading board for a child, or hornbook, on which is laid a printed sheet of paper with the alphabet at the top, and below this two groups showing the vowels and combinations of pairs of letters, one on the left and one on the right. Below this is the text 'In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost', with the Lord's prayer at the bottom. The paper sheet is covered by a transparent sheet of horn fixed to the board with a frame made of metal strips. The wooden board is rectangular, with a handle at the bottom.

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk