Bay Psalm Book

The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre, commonly called the Bay Psalm Book, is a

In November 2013, one of eleven known surviving copies of the first edition sold at auction for $14.2 million, a record for a printed book.[6]^[7][8]

History

17th century

The early residents of the

The third edition (1651) was extensively revised by Henry Dunster and Richard Lyon. The revision was entitled The Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs of the Old and New Testament, faithfully translated into English metre. This revision was the basis for all subsequent editions, and was popularly known as the New England Psalter or New England Version. The ninth edition (1698), the first to contain music, included 13 tunes from John Playford's A Breefe Introduction to the Skill of Musick (London, 1654).^[13]

18th century

The expansion of the neoclassical movement in England led to an evolution in the singing of psalms. These changes found their way to America and subsequently new psalm versions were written. In the early part of the 18th century several updated psalms, notably those written by Tate and Brady and by Isaac Watts, were published. Shortly thereafter several congregations in New England elected to replace the Bay Psalm Book with these new titles.

In 1718,

The Lord to me a shepherd is,
want therefore shall not I:
He in the folds of tender grass,
doth cause me down to lie:
To waters calm me gently leads
restore my soul doth he:
He doth in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake lead me.
Yea, though in valley of death’s shade
I walk, none ill I’ll fear:
Because thou art with me, thy rod,
and staff my comfort are.
For me a table thou hast spread,
in presence of my foes:
Thou dost anoint my head with oil;
my cup it overflows.
Goodness and mercy surely shall
all my days follow me:
And in the Lord’s house I shall dwell
so long as days shall be.[15]

Extant copies and auction records

Eleven copies of the first edition of the Bay Psalm Book are still known to exist,^[16] of which only five copies are complete. Only one of the eleven copies is currently held outside the United States. One copy is owned by each of the following:^[17]

Owner/Library	Image	Notes
Library of Congress
Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University		This copy was owned by Old South Church in Boston between 1750 and 1850, before passing through a number of hands (Edward A. Crowninshield, then by Henry Stevens, then by George Brinley of Hartford, then by Cornelius Vanderbilt), finally being bought by Cornelius Vanderbilt II in 1879. It was eventually inherited by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and owned by her until her death in 1942.[18][19] It was bought for Yale University in 1947, at a price of $151,000, by the Friends of the Library of Yale University.[19]
Houghton Library, Harvard University		Thought to have been acquired in the effort to replace Harvard's library, after its destruction by fire in 1764. It was previously owned by Middlecott Cooke, a member of the Harvard class of 1723. It carries the signature of John Leverett, suggesting it may have belonged to John Leverett, the 19th governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.[18] The copy is incomplete, missing 10 leaves.
John Carter Brown Library, Brown University		Originally the property of Richard Mather, one the original translators, it passed into the ownership of Thomas Prince (possibly after the dispersal of the library of Cotton Mather, grandson of Richard, in 1728. It was eventually acquired by John Carter Brown in 1881.[18]
American Antiquarian Society		This copy lacks its title page and pages 295–296, but is in its original vellum binding. It was part of a lot of old books bought by bookplate.[20] He later gave it to the society.[18]
New York Public Library		This copy was found when the stock of British bookseller William Pickering was sold by Sotheby's in 1855 in London after his death. It was part of a parcel of old copies of psalms that was bought for 19 shillings by Henry Stevens. It had twelve leaves missing, but Stevens replaced them with leaves taken from the copy now in the Library of Congress, then sold it to James Lenox. The book was part of the Lenox Library until this became part of the New York Public Library in 1895.[18]|
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford		Formerly the property of Bishop Thomas Tanner, this complete copy was part of the valuable book collection bequeathed to the Bodlean Library in Oxford upon his death in 1735.[18] This is the only copy outside the United States.
Huntington Library		An 1844 note laid into the book by one Sara Shuttleworth records it was previously in the possession of the Shuttleworth family, and she was passing it to her daughter. It was acquired by an antique book store in Boston in 1872; they sold it 20 years later to Bishop John Fletcher Hurst. It was bought by E. Dwight Church in 1903. In 1911, Henry E. Huntington acquired a large portion of Church's library, including the Bay Psalm Book. It was transferred to the Huntington library as part of the establishment gift in 1919.[18]
Rosenbach Museum & Library		The most recently discovered copy, this was sold in 1933 to the UCLA student as part of a fraternity initiation.[18]
Old South Church in Boston		This book was bequeathed to Old South Church in 1758 by Thomas Prince.[18] It is housed in the Rare Book Collection at the Boston Public Library.
David Rubenstein		This 1640 copy of the Bay Psalm Book, one of two owned by Boston's Old South Church, was auctioned off by hammer price of $14.165 million. Rubenstein, the buyer, is an American billionaire financier and philanthropist. The sale set a new record for a single printed book, and surpassed the previous record set in 2010 ($11.5 million for John James Audubon's The Birds of America).[16][6][21][7] Rubenstein loaned the book to the National Museum of American History.[22]

A 1648 edition, described in American Book Prices Current as the "Emerson Copy", fetched $15,000 on May 3, 1983, at New England Book Auctions in

• Codex Leicester, which holds the record for the sale price of any book^[6]
• House of the First Print Shop in the Americas
• Metrical psalter
• List of most expensive books and manuscripts

Notes

Further reading

• ISBN 978-1-85124-414-0

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bay Psalm Book.

• Full Text in html format from Evans-TCP
• Original digital facsimiles:
  • John Carter Brown Library copy available at the World Digital Library
  • Bodleian Library copy
  • Library of Congress from the American Imprint Collection
• The Preface
• 20th century reprint, 20th century by Wilberforce Eames
• News article: Historic Boston Church’s Decision to Sell Rare Psalmbook Divides Congregation