Institute for Studies in American Music, Department of Music, School of Performing Arts, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York,
Date of Publication
c1975.
Physical Description
vii, 43 p. ; 22 cm.
Series
I.S.A.M. monographs ;
Notes
Facsims. of the original tunes, with transcriptions in modern notation, with bass.
Bibliography: p. 40-43.
The Bay Psalm Book is the first book printed in British North America. The Reverend Jesse Glover imported the first printing press to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638, some 18 years after the first English settlers landed at Plymouth Rock. A London printer, Stephen Daye, came with the press and established a printing office in Cambridge. The following year, the residents of the colony asked John Eliot, Thomas Welde, and Richard Mather to undertake a new translation from the Hebrew Book of Psalms, for use in the colony's churches. Mather was the principal author and translator, but was assisted by about 30 other New England ministers. The book was printed in 1640.
