I went to a flea market Saturday morning and was drawn to this wooden object.
The dealer who sold it to me didn't have a clue as to it's country of origin
nor it's function.
Several of the dealers thought it was used for printing and one dealer
said it was an Islamic seal for documents.
The dimensions are 3 1/2 inches high by 4 1/2 inches high and it is 1 inch thick
Your help is always appreciated.What is it?
Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com
 |
| THE MYSTERY OBJECT |
The early 19th century American Bookplate shown below was sent to me by Tom Boss
www.bossbooks.com
Robert E. Hornor of Princeton, New Jersey was a printer/ publisher who was very
active in Whig politics. Some biographical information has been copied below.
Extracted from
Early Princeton Printing
BY
VARNUM LANSING COLLINS
"Robert Emley Hornor was a lineal de-
scendant of John Hornor, the early set-
tler whose public spirit assisted in locat-
ing the College of New Jersey at Prince-
ton. Controlling a tannery and a pottery
manufactory at Queenston, on the out-
skirts of Princeton, he seems to have been
possessed of some little means. In Sep-
tember 1832 he had established in oppo-
sition to Connolly's Democratic Courier,
which supported Jackson and Van Buren,
a paper called the "American System and
Farmers' and Mechanics' Advocate," sup-
porting the protection of American indus-
tries and the election of the National Re-
publican, or Whig, candidates. Clay and
Sergeant. After the campaign he assumed
the editorship himself and a new firm, that
of John T. Robinson, took charge of the
mechanical end. The name of the paper
was changed to the "Princeton Whig" and
from this period dates the present weekly
newspaper, the "Princeton Press" edited
by Mr. Edwin M. Norris. Mr. Hornor's
Quaker affiliation is shown in the imprint
of his paper — "published every sixth-
day."
A new spirit enters Princeton journal-
ism with Mr. Hornor's assumption of edi-
torial duties. Never did a paper deserve
its name more thoroughly than the "Whig"
during Mr. Hornor's regime. He was an
eager partisan and one of the most active
and widely known politicians in the state.
He seems to have thoroughly enjoyed him-
self as an editor. Not content with the
influence exerted by his weekly, when
election times came around he was wont
to do extra work for his party by issuing
special campaign papers, such as the
"Thorn" in the autumn of 1834 — an aptly
named little two leaf sheet, which was
sold for a cent and was issued at least
once a week until the campaign was over.
That its contents came practically from
his own pen is naively revealed by a note
in the only surviving number (September
27, 1834) to the effect that the "severe
indisposition of the Editor must be an
apology for the want of interest or variety
in the columns of this week's paper." But
the "Thorn" so successfully justified its
name and met with such approval from
friends of the Whig cause, that two years
later Mr. Hornor renewed it to counter-
act what he was pleased to call the "ser-
vile collar press of the Van Buren dyn-
asty." To those who remembered the
"Thorn" of 1834 he would merely an-
nounce that the new "Thorn" was grown
SO
on the same stalk — "only a trifle sharper
and stronger/' Its object would be to
"place information in every man's hand
at so cheap a rate that all may read and
know the extravagant expenditure and
abuses of Van Buren and his satellites."
And with cheerful confidence in his ability
to secure subscribers, he asks that all who
are opposed to Van Buren will send him
their names at once so that he mav know
how many thousand copies of the paper
he may start with.
The "Thorn" had not been without ef-
fect on the college campus. All things are
possible in politics, and the marvel in this
case was that the "Thorn" apparentlj'^ be-
gat the "Thistle," a manuscript news-
paper made up of political satire, and
circulated, says one of its undergraduate
editors in his reminiscences, "by the aid of
the long entries of Nassau Hall and the
small hours of the night." The success
of the "Thistle" led to a more ambitious
effort, and in the winter of 1834-35 four
or five numbers of a small eight page
quarto called the "Chameleon," edited by
members of the class of 1835, were is-
sued from the local press. The only re-
mains of the "Chameleon** seem to be a
fragrant memory and an "Extra/* pub-
lished in August^ 1835^ consisting of a long
poem on a galley-slip, announcing its
demise. With the passing of this effort,
undergraduate literary activity, so far as
publication is concerned, ceased until, in
1840, John Bogart*s press issued the "Gem
from Nassau's Casket,** a daintily printed
little octavo magazine of four double col-
umn pages, purely literary and serious in
character. The "Gem** gleamed more or
less serenely for a very brief day, and then
' joined the defunct "Chameleon.
On Mr. Bogart's death Mr. Hornor en-
joyed a practical monopoly; but, while his
imprint occurs on many a pamphlet of the
early forties, most of his attention was
given to politics and the "Princeton Whig.
One product of his press, however, the
"Nassau Monthly, whose first number
came out in February 1842, the unmistak-
able and robuster offspring of the "Gem,
cannot be ignored, even in this scant sur-
vey. By no means so engaging in appear-
ance as its parent, it nevertheless had the
elusive quality of permanence that the ear-
lier periodical lacked. The "Nassau Mon-
thly/' re-baptised as the "Nassau Liter-
ary Magazine/' has never been conspicu-
ous for beauty on the formal side, and is
not comparable with the "Gem" in looks.
But it has lived seventy years and, with
the exception of the "Yale Literary Maga-
zine/' is the oldest undergraduate publi-
cation of its kind in the country.
The campaign of 1844 gave Mr. Hornor
another rare opportunity, of which he
made the utmost by issuing a lively four-
page quarto of three columns to the page,
called the "Jersey Blue," a name the edi-
tor may or may not have known as the
title of a rollicking eighteenth century
Princeton song. It was, as might be ex-
pected, devoted to the Whig cause and was
intended to bear especially on the state
elections of that autumn, and when they
were over to aid the election of Clay and
Frelinghuysen. The opening number
made this announcement of policy:
"It will be fearless in advocating that
which is considered right. While it will
concede to all men and all monopolies their
rights and privileges, it will by no means
allow itself to swerve from an independ-
ent and dignified bearing. It will deal
with the rich as with the poor. The sov-
ereignty of the people will be defended
rather than the sovereignty of particular
individuals or families. All party excess
will be discouraged, while true patriotic
zeal will be incited. Who will help us ?
Supporting Charles C. Stratton for Gov-
ernor, the "Jersey Blue" attacked with all
its might — and Mr. Hornor had not mis-
laid the *' Thorn's" pointed pen — the can- Carver.
didacy of John R. Thomson of Princeton^
turning to good political account his con-
nection with the Delaware and Raritan
Canal Company, and at the same time it
fired broadsides at Captain — slater Commo-
dore — R. F. Stockton, the leader of the
Loco Foco party in the State, finding in
his naval and political record and in his
connection with the ill-fated gunboat
"Princeton" plenty of campaign ammuni-
tion. "
Speaking of Princeton, I was re-reading Bookplates of Princeton and Princetonians
by Clifford N.Carver and found some bookplates from my own collection:
Vance Thompson(Princeton ,1863) was a writer whose bookplate was designed by the
English sculptor Theodore Spicer-Simpson
Henry van Dyke's bookplate was etched by James Smille from a drawing by Siddons
Mowbray. His love of fishing and reading is depicted.He graduated from Princeton
in 1873 and was also a faculty member.
The bookplate of Princeton's most famous faculty member is shown below.
If you live in Princeton or you are a Princeton faculty member
or graduate and would like your bookplate added to this posting
send a scan to me and it will be included.
Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com
See you next week
