Alphabe Thursday … A is for Ampersand

A is for Ampersand which stands for ‘and per se and’ and is the name of the character ‘&’ as it appears at the end of the alphabet in a primer or horn book.

A horn book peculiar to England North America; but was later produced in Europe.  A pointer was made with a horn book; the teacher pointed to the letters and child would recite them.

Some horn books showed only the alphabet; others had another image such as the Lord’s Prayer.

A horn book was made of a thin piece of oak with handle at one end sometimes they were covered in leather; the printed sheet was glued to one side. Horn was fastened over it with strips of brass and rose head tacks.
The children might have worn the books dangling from a string tied at their waist or round their neck

True horn books with horn faces were used as early as 1450 and were common by 1600 and continued to be used until the end of 18th century.

Further reading :-  History of the Horn-Book by Andrew Tuer 1897