[Watts, Isaac; Barlow, Joel]. Psalms, carefully suited to the Christian Worship in the United States of America: being an Improvement of the Old Versions of the Psalms of David. New-Brunswick: Printed by Lewis Deare, For Weller & Meeker, Newark, 1812. A New Edition, Corrected. [11315]
Full calf, bottom board detached, spine with two cracks, cloth visible beneath the backstrip from an old repair, boards quite worn, 7 x 4 1/2 inches. "Matthias Baker's Book" in black ink on the ffep, ink name stamp of the same above it. [1]-299, [1]; [1]-264; counted and complete. A couple of loosening signatures, text is generally in good condition. Fair. Hardcover.
The book begins with an extract of the Life of Isaac Watts from Johnson's Lives of the Poets.
The hymnal has its own title page and page numbers, the imprint is New-Brunswick: Printed by Lewis Deare, 1812; as with the Psalms, the title page has "A New Edition, Corrected." Watts is printed as the author on the title page of the hymns, but not on the Psalms, although they are an adaptation of Watts nonetheless.
This is Joel Barlow's revision of Watts, approved by the Presbyterian Synod of New York and Philadelphia in 1787, and later printed without the Presbyterian name to broaden the customer base. It is also the "Corrected" Edition, see Benson, The American revisions of Watts's Psalms, p. 15.
"A final series of editions of Barlow's revision needs mention. These began as early as 1812, and consist in each case of the Psalms and Hymns bound together in one volume, each with its own title, and each described as "corrected." The constitutes the only variance in the title of the Psalms, and there appears to be little variance in the text. The corrections are rather in the line of restorations of verses or even whole versions of Psalms as given by Watts, but which Barlow had chosen to omit. In some editions a brief 'Life of Watts' is included." - Benson.
With a signed provenance card from the music collection of A. Merril Smoak, Jr., DWS.
