Merrick, J. L. The Pilgrim's Harp. Boston: Crocker and Brewster, 1847. First Edition. [11123]
Black cloth with gilt harp on front and back boards, about half of the backstrip is missing, edges worn, old light blemishes to covers, 9 x 5 3/4 inches, the text block is tight. 628 unmarked pp.; foxing, some dark-toned page sections. A scarce title. Fair. Hardcover.
"Many of the following pieces were written in America, not a few at sea and while journeying in Turkey and Persia, and others were composed at various places of missionary residence where my pilgrim steps for a period were stayed." - Preface.
The poems are grouped under these heads: Introductory Poems; Lyrical and Other Themes; Sick-Bed, Elegies, Farewells; Various Views of Nature; Views on Time and kindred themes; Friendship, Home, Country; Vanity, Temptation, Trial, Complaint; Repentance, Supplication, Trust; Worship, Sabbath, Revival; Devotedness, Missionary, Thanksgiving; Death, Immortality, Heaven; Themes Relating to God and the Persons of the Divine Trinity; with the last chapter being a very long poem (pp. 574-628) entitled, "The Mission Prophet."
James Lyman Merrick (1803-1866), b. Monson, Massachusetts; the first American missionary to Muslims in Persia. He was a Presbyterian evangelist and a missionary with the ABCFM, was educated at the Princeton and Columbia theological schools, and from 1834 to 1845 was active in the cities of Tabriz, Shiraz, and Urumiya in Persia. He was granted a Royal Order to establish a school in Tabriz by Muhammad Shah, the King of Persia. The difficulties encountered discouraged the ABCFM from continuing the mission, despite the protests of Merrick, who felt they were abandoning and betraying the Muslims. After his return to the States Merrick became pastor of the South Amherst Congregational Church and was Professor of Oriental Languages in Amherst College.
With a signed provenance card from the music collection of A. Merril Smoak, Jr., DWS.
