Maine Antique Digest April 2015

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22-C Maine Antique Digest, April 2015
- FEATURE -
Carved in Stone: American Stone Books
by Ian Berke
All books were photographed on a 1" grid for scale.
About eight years ago at a
New England antiques
show, I saw a small,
carved white marble book with
“Remembr [sic] the Maine”
inscribed on its front cover. The
same dealer also had a similar
book that featured a profile of
William McKinley and seemed
to be a memorial to his assassina-
tion in 1901. I had never noticed
stone books before, much less
those with historical connec-
tions, and was intrigued, in part
because of my background in
geology. I had to buy them both,
and thus began a search for stone
books that has never stopped. In
this article, I will discuss Ameri-
can stone books and my attempt
to understand this unique form
of folk art.
Carved stone books are a
fascinating and unusual form
of American folk art, which,
loosely defined, is traditional
artistic expression lavished on
common utilitarian objects.
Unlike many of the objects now
considered folk art, stone books
were not intended for any sig-
nificant practical purpose other
than as objects of remembrance.
The custom of making objects
of remembrance and tokens
of love runs deep in the reper-
toire of traditional craftsmen.
Some 19th-century American
craftsmen produced so-called
whimsies, which are fanciful
works done after normal work-
ing hours, using their surplus
or scrap material. Glassblowers
made canes, rolling pins, deco-
rative balls, and other decorative
items. Sewer tile workers are
recognized today for their small
clay animals. Whalers made
scrimshaw and knotted figures.
These items were labors of love,
usually intended as gifts for
friends and family.
Stonecutters, many of whom
worked in gravestone shops,
created whimsies in the form of
small carved stone books. Some
of these stone books were blank,
while others were beautifully
embellished and imbued with
great feeling, as they were made
as gifts and memorials. One of
our most powerful impulses is
our desire to love, to be loved,
and to be remembered. Per-
haps a stone book was a way
for some stonecutters and oth-
ers to express their feelings, not
intended or used as hand warm-
ers but as heart warmers. It also
seems clear that some stonecut-
ters made more than one or two
books. I have seen a number of
stone books clearly made by the
same hand. For instance, two
McKinley memorial books in
my collection have obviously
been made by the same person.
Another carver used very dis-
tinctive birds within a rope-like
border on multiple books.
Skillfully done books would
likely have been highly desired
as gifts, so it is probable that the
cutters sold some of their books
to others who gave them as spe-
cial gifts to friends.
Some notable stone book gifts
were mentioned in the press.
For example, in 1892, the soci-
ety gossip column of the Daily
Democrat of Hamilton, Ohio,
states that Mr. and Mrs. Andrew
Kuhlman received an “elegant
stone book” as one of their wed-
ding gifts.1 Another story that
describes stone books as gifts
was printed in a 1929 issue of
an Iowa newspaper: “My father
had an employee—a common
quarry man—who was an artist
to his fingertips. At odd times he
would carve beautifully in stone.
When my father went west this
man made, as a parting gift, a
stone Bible of fairy frostlike
carving, deeply undercarved,
beautiful and perfect. It was in
our family a lifetime.”2
Stone books are typically
small, averaging about 3" to 5"
high. They were nearly always
carved in a closed position, often
in white marble, with the covers
and pages carefully delineated.
Stone books have a variety of
inscriptions and images. They
can be carved with monograms,
full names, religious titles (“Holy
Bible”), good wishes (“Good
Luck,” “Friendship,” etc.), and
sometimes the dates of their cre-
ation or events. Stone books are
also carved with pictorial motifs
of a religious or secular nature.
Crosses, horseshoes, flowers,
animals, hearts, and geometric
designs are the most common
designs seen on stone books.
Evidence that professional stone-
cutters carved books is the high
quality of many of the inscrip-
tions and images. Doubtless, not
all stone books were carved by
stonecutters, as evidenced by a
substantial number with much
less skilled carving, sometimes
awkward. Yet inscriptions and
carving are not common; most
books are blank. About a third
of the personal books (meaning
those that are carved for individ-
ual gifts, rather than souvenir or
advertising books) I have seen
have inscriptions or images.
While most stone books were
likely intended as gifts, even
if not actually carved by the
giver, not all stone books are of
a personal nature. Some were
intended to be sold as tourist sou-
venirs at popular destinations,
such the Garden of the Gods.
These “tourist” books are fairly
common. Others were done for
business advertising, but these
are uncommon. There are also
books done by civil prisoners
and prisoners of war. These will
be discussed later in this article.
Many types of stone were used
in the making of stone books.
The most common is white mar-
ble, which is logical given its
widespread availability through-
out the United States as a result
of the growth of the railroads by
the 1870s. All but the smallest
towns would have had a monu-
ment maker. Marble is relatively
soft (hardness of 3, Mohs scale),
and every gravestone maker had
scraps. White is also symbolic of
purity, therefore an appropriate
choice for making stone books
with Christian references.
Ornamental marbles were
used occasionally. These include
brecciated, red fossil, deep gray,
and green Vermont marbles,
but these are less common than
white marble. Alabaster, an even
softer stone, often translucent, is
seen as well. Fine-grained lime-
stone and sandstone, sometimes
very dark in color, are common,
and these are probably from the
Midwest, judging from the num-
ber found by Midwest dealers.
Catlinite, or pipestone, a very
soft stone with its characteristic
red color resulting from its iron
oxide content, was also used.
Slate, despite being a common
early headstone material, is
rarely seen. Soapstone is also
rare. Anthracite, fossil coal, and
fossil coral were occasionally
used, but all are rare. Igneous
rocks, such as granite, are very
rare in stone book form pre-
sumably because they are much
harder and so much more dif-
ficult to carve. No carver with
19th-century tools could carve
granite with the beautiful detail
often seen in marble. Agate,
although very hard, is sometimes
seen in very small books, usually
without inscriptions. Some of
the tiny agate books were used
as fobs.
What does a carved book
symbolize? The most common
book in America in the 19th cen-
tury was the Bible, and a carved
book, even without explicit reli-
gious imagery, would surely
be recognized as a symbol of
a Bible. Nearly all stone books
were carved in a closed position
rather than open. The customary
closed position was chosen prob-
ably because it is easier to carve
and engrave and more compact
than an open book. A closed
Bible is perhaps symbolic of the
belief that only God can know
the future, hence a closed book.
I have attempted an analysis
of the 279 stone books currently
in my collection, based on the
inscriptions, images, and dates.
Admittedly this is not an accu-
rate representation of all stone
books, as the act of collecting
assumes a certain selectivity,
which skews a collection toward
the unique and best examples.
Still, the analysis indicates some
interesting trends.
It will not escape any read-
er’s eye that these conclusions
are educated guesses, because
even after assembling a collec-
tion of 279 stone books (as of
July 2014), I have yet to find
one stone book with a prove-
nance. Two other collections I
know of, one of which I have
personally seen, each with about
100 books, have only two books
with a documented provenance.
Most stone books are objects
that, sadly, are likely to remain
anonymous once they leave their
original family. They were triv-
ial in economic value, so they
do not show up in death invento-
ries. Further, with the exception
of a fairly recent article in Early
American Life , “Books Never
Read” by Winfield Ross,3 noth-
ing has been published about
stone books, and most curators
are completely unaware of them.
I know of only three institutions
with examples of stone books
in their collections: one book at
Historic New England, 4 three at
the Museum of the Confederacy
in Richmond, Virginia, and two
at Winterthur (likely Italian).
Very few stone books give a clue
to their geographic origin, other
than those with town names,
which are typically souvenir
objects. The exceptions are the
pipestone books, since the stone
is quarried in Minnesota, and
the other tourist books inscribed
with the site names.
It seems safe to assume
that stone books were carved
throughout the United States, but
they are most commonly found
today in the Midwest and New
England. One might expect a tra-
dition of carving stone books in
two regions where stone carving
and folk art are prevalent, Ver-
mont and Pennsylvania Dutch
country in southeastern Pennsyl-
vania. Central Vermont was an
important source of marble, both
of ornamental and dimension
stone, so one might expect a tra-
dition of carving stone whimsies,
such as books. But several trips to
the Dorset area and the Vermont
Marble Museum in Proctor did
not turn up any examples. Nor
have antiques dealers located in
Vermont turned up a dispropor-
tionate number of stone books
in relation to dealers elsewhere.
Most antiques dealers in south-
eastern Pennsylvania had never
seen stone books in their area.
Inscriptions
Stone books are decorated
with many inscriptions and
images that are both incised into
the stone and carved in relief.
Initials and names are usually
singular, but sometimes there
are two sets of initials or names,
which probably represent the
giver and the recipient. The most
common inscriptions found on
stone books are initials (63 of
279 books), followed by first
names (30), full names (21), last
names with initials (10), and
finally dates (65). Full names are
less common than first names,
perhaps because these books
were intended as gifts from the
makers, who surely knew the
intended recipient well. Most
first names are female. Out of 30
books with first names, 23 are
female; but out of 21 full names,
only seven are female. It seems
logical that more women than
men were the recipients of these
books, as the makers were likely
all men.
Initials and last names with
only first initials give no clue
as to gender, but a reasonable
presumption is that most are
male. Several are inscribed with
“Mother.” One book has two sets
of initials, followed by a third set,
underneath, reading “BORN /
AP. 6, 1875,” which probably
represent the parents’ initials,
followed by the newborn. Most
of the full names are relatively
common, so it has been impos-
sible to connect them with a spe-
cific person. However, one book
with the unusual name “Sybilla
Ruen” was enough information
for a friend skilled in genea-
logical research to identify it
as belonging to a housewife in
Ottoville, Ohio, who died in
1916. Another book, done by or
for a Civil War veteran at a GAR
convention in 1912, was also tied
to that specific veteran, Captain
Sosman, who fought with the
22nd Ohio Volunteer Regiment.
Often initials and names are
incised, but sometimes they are
done in relief. Of course a book
Carved stone
books are a
fascinating and
unusual form of
American folk
art.
“Remembr [sic] the Maine” in
relief letters.
High-relief floral carving.
Initials in neo-Gothic style.
Heart with initials and “stitched”
decoration.
Low-relief anchor (front); cross (back).
Relief anchor, cross, and heart
(“HOPE”).