The Bay Psalm Book

The first book printed in North America, this 1640 translation of the Psalms of David was made for the Massachusetts Puritans. Communal singing of the psalms held a unique importance for the pioneers and their Psalter is in rhyming metrical verse. It was designed not for elegance but, as MacCulloch writes in his introduction, to be ‘roared out by a congregation exalting in its common voice, taking comfort from communal purpose amid a wilderness’. This facsimile is of the Bodleian Library copy. No jacket.