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two books with a beautifully incised maple leaf, and each
has a history of Canadian ownership. Two alabaster books
with skillfully incised figures (a cowboy) and Spanish
wording are likely Mexican. Marble books with colored
marble inlays or highly ornamental marble strongly sug-
gest an Italian origin. Other alabaster books have inset
photographs. One with a photograph of the Pisa Cathedral
is obviously Italian. Marble books with beautifully ren-
dered profiles of American political figures (e.g., Benja-
min Franklin) are almost certainly Italian.
I have seen several English books, one of which is
identified as English because it was a gift to a member of
Parliament with his inscribed name. An Australian book
is shown on a University of Newcastle Web site. There
is a book with “To my dear wife” written in Hungarian
and with a very late date of 1933. Even so, America had
large foreign-born communities, especially German, that
continued to speak their native languages and read for-
eign-language newspapers until our entry intoWorldWar I.
So a German phrase on an American-appearing book may
not necessarily mean it was carved overseas. One white
marble book with gilding, looking like a typical American
stone book, has the German phrase “
Aus Freundschaft
,”
meaning “to our friendship.” My vote is that it was carved
on this side of the Atlantic.
Even after looking at more than 600 books over the past
eight years, many questions remain. For one, where did
the concept of stone books originate? If England or the
Continent, you would think that some very early dated
books would exist, but I have never seen any. Many folk
art traditions originated in Europe. Could stone books
have originated in this country? This seems unlikely,
given the centuries of stone carving in Europe, but I don’t
know.
The greatest difficulty in researching stone books is the
rarity of a verifiable provenance. Once a book leaves the
family, usually all provenance information is lost. Only
two books in my collection are marked with the maker’s
name; one is a small, crude book. It seems astonishing
and sad that not a single book had an accompanying note
stating who made it, when, and for whom.
An 1899 newspaper article describes an incident of a
crowd stoning the house of a Union sympathizer in Rich-
mond, Virginia, in 1860: “Now a lull came, which lasted
several minutes, when a heavy object struck the house
with tremendous force, but did not break. I stepped for-
ward to pick it up, when the policeman, who had been
standing near me, picked it up just in front of me, and
after examining it handed it to me. It proved to be a large
marble book of exquisite shape and polish. On the back
was cut in large letters ‘The Holy Bible.’ People cried
out when they examined it, and expressed themselves in
many ways, and many thought it foretold dire disasters to
the city, and that something dreadful was about to happen
in connection with the then threatening rumbles of the
secession movement; and all seemed greatly impressed
with the scenes witnessed, particularly with the stone
Bible. Not another stone or other missile struck the house,
and after waiting an hour or so, the people departed.”
10
As with the marble Bible in Richmond, many mysteries
remain. These are small time travelers, whose creators,
givers, and recipients are now long passed and anony-
mous. The books are testimony to that universal wish for
love and to be remembered. Although carved in stone,
once removed from the family, the remembrance ends.
Yet their poignant pleas endure and continue to speak to
us as voices from the past.
Acknowledgments: Many thanks to Ellen Denker and
Mindy Dubansky for their suggestions and editing skills.
I welcome photos of unusual books and, of course, con-
tinue to collect. Contact me at
<ian@ianberke.com> or
(415) 860-2777.
“FRIEND” (front); “For-
getme not” (back); “MAR/
BLE/ BOOK” with eagle
(spine).
Recumbent lamb with cross, in
high relief. Obvious reference to
Lamb of God.
High-relief floral carving with
tiny inset colored stones, rope bor-
der. Massive.
“Clara Slather” with heart. Penn-
sylvania Dutch look.
“MIZPAH / NOV. 1, 1886” with initials and clasped hands
(front); horseshoe with clover and blossoms (back); “O! Sis-
ter love / Tis a jewel / golden set / But no jewel / fair can
een / compare
With / my sis-
ter / Elizabeth”
(spine).
Very
skillful carving
with square-cut
letters in relief
on the cover
top and bottom.
“TO THE / ONE I LOVE / 1913”
(front); clasped hands with birds
(back); “SOUVENIR” (spine); “A
KISS” (fore edge).
Clasped hands in heart in low relief.
- FEATURE -
Inscriptions:
The following words or phrases
(other than names, initials, and
locations) are found on the books
in my collection:
Album
Bible
Biography
Born [followed by a date]
Burns Poems
By Papa
Christmas [followed by a year]
Compliment of [name]
Common Prayer
Forget Me Not
Friend
Friendship
Good Luck
Holy Bible
Hope
Made by [name]
Marble Book
Mizpah
Mother
My Son
New Testament
New Year Greeting [followed
by a year]
Presented to [name]
A Present from [name]
Prison Life in Anamosa
Puebla
Remember Me
Remembr [sic] the Maine
Rock of Ages
Soldiers Home
Souvenir
The State Fair
Token of Love
To One I Love
Truth
You and I
Xmas [followed by a year]
Notes:
1. The
Daily Democrat
, Hamilton, Ohio, May 30, 1892.
2. The
Hawarden Independent
, Hawarden, Iowa, March 28, 1929.
3. Winfield Ross, “Books Never Read,”
Early American Life
,
February 2012.
4. Given to Historic New England by Nina Fletcher Little.
5. Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
6. The
Dallas Morning News
, Dallas, Texas, May 15, 1896.
7.
Decatur Review
, Decatur, Illinois, February 12, 1910.
8. The
Nevada State Journal
, Reno, Nevada, September 30, 1882.
9. The
New York Sun
, New York, New York, October 12, 1896.
10. The
National Tribune
, Washington, D.C., July 27, 1899.