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Andrew White Tuer (1838-1900). History of the Horn-Book. London: Leadenhall Press; New York: Scribner, 1897. Andrew White Tuer began his publishing career as a partner in a London stationery store, established about 1862. By 1872 he was editing a journal devoted to the paper-and-printing trade and in 1879 published his first book, Luxurious Bathing. While his Leadenhall Press published many plainly bound volumes printed in the customary black ink on white or ecru-colored paper, Tuer is far better known for his striking and imaginatively designed works that deviated from the ordinary. He used dark blue ink on light blue paper, multicolored pages, and even printed an advertisement on Japanese handkerchiefs. He bound several of his books, such as Our Grandmothers' Gowns (ca. 1885), in patterned cloth. Two of the titles for which he is perhaps best remembered featured pockets filled with miniature hornbooks. Originally devised as a small handheld, paddle-shaped primer for children, hornbooks were traditionally inscribed with the alphabet, numerals, the Lord's Prayer, or other rudimentary lessons. When covered with a thin coating of translucent animal horn, the "books" were thus able to withstand "the innocent mischief resulting from damp and grubby paws." The first of the two titles, The History of the Horn-Book (issued in 1896 in two volumes), contained seven diminutive hornbooks. A year later, Tuer published a one-volume abridgement, with a pocket in the back containing "three horn-books, one of oak, one of card and one of ivory."
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