Old Historical Hymn Book

Good to hear that Billups' Sweet Songster is still available to purchase. I bought one several years ago to have, but it is not used in this area. I think Old Regular Baptists are currently the only churches that use it. The copy I own was reprinted in 1970 by Arrowood Brothers in Wayne, WV:.

As a matter of interest to others, my records show the full title is The Sweet Songster, a Collection of the Most Popular and Approved Songs, Hymns, and Ballads, and was first published by Edward W. Billups in 1854.

 

Found this at The Baptist Library:

 

Here's an even older hymnal

Bay Psalter in metre [LINK]

The Bay Psalm Book of 1640 was the first book printed in America.

"It's a book that was not created to be fancy or splendid or valuable in any way other than the significance of its content," says Derick Dreher, the director of Philadelphia's Rosenbach Library, one of the few institutions to hold a Bay Psalm Book. But because the congregation for which it was created literally used the book to death, very few of the copies have survived.​

One of the few remaining copies was sold last November 2013 for 14.2 million dollars.

"If therefore the verses are not alwayes so smooth and elegant as some may desire or expect; let them confider that Gods Altar needs not our pollishings: Ex. 20. for wee have respected a plaine translation then to smooth our verses with the sweetnes of any paraphrase, and soe have attended Conscience rather then Elegance, fidelity rather then poetry, in translating the hebrew words into english language, and Davids poetry into english meetre…" [Bay Psalm Preface, page 13]
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I digitalized it and put in Logos Personal Book format for those who are interested.

5824 BAY PSALM BOOK IN METRE 1640_LOGOS PB.DOCX [link]​

Rob

 

I wrote a short piece on Billups and his hymn book for my blog:

A Singer and His Songs: E. W. Billups and The Sweet Songster

 

Nice additions!