Bourne, Hugh. A General Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, for Camp Meetings, Revivals, &c., &c. To which is prefixed, an Account of the Origin of the English Camp Meetings, &c. Nottingham: Printed for the Editor, by W. Wheelhouse, 1820. A New Edition, enlarged and improved. [11180]
Leather binding, front detached, lacks all free end papers (blanks), begins at the title page which has a small hole in the word "enlarged" and a couple of tears. [i]-iv, 76 unnumbered pages, [2] index; 82 pp. total. The index leaf has a hold affecting a few words/lines. Foxing, old stains. Text is complete. Fair. Hardcover.
The "Account of the Origin of the English Camp Meetings" is two pages and tells of 1807 camp meeting on the mountain named Mow, between Staffordshire and Cheshire. It says that Lorenzo Dow had previously visited England and told about the Camp Meetings in America, but Dow did not attempt to hold one in England. The first English Camp Meeting was a spontaneous event, and is briefly described here. It was principally conducted by Bourne himself.
63 selections, words only, with an index of first lines.
Some years ago we sold an 1829 printing of this book. It had by then swelled to 536 selections and was printed at the Office of the Primitive Methodist Connexion in Bermersely, England.
Hugh Bourne (1772-1852), co-founder (with William Clowes) of Primitive Methodism in England. He was converted at the age of 27 and joined the Wesleyan society of his area, and soon became a lay preacher. His habit of open-air preaching, of group prayer, camp meetings and revival methods set him apart as a radical by the Wesleyans. Although not differing in doctrine, their methods led to Bourne & Clowes being expelled by the Wesleyan Methodists, after which the "Camp Meeting Methodists" formed the Society of Primitive Methodists in 1812. The group was denounced as "Ranters," and Bourne even issued editions of his hymnal as A General Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, for the use of people called Ranters, in 1821.
With a signed provenance card from the music collection of A. Merril Smoak, Jr., DWS.
