Jones, Samuel; Burgiss, Allison. A Selection of Psalms and Hymns, done under the appointment of the Philadelphian Association. Philadelphia: Printed for Theophilus Harris, by Joseph Rakestraw, 1819. Fourth Edition. [9400]
Full leather, both boards detached, leather has been treated with Cellugel to arrest red rot (powdery deterioration). 13 cm, ( 5 1/4 x 3 1/2 inches), paper spine label from the Library of the Newton Theological Institution. Page edges dyed red, xviii., (1)-410, [7] pp. Index. Text block very good, counted and complete. The binding is later, probably late 19th century, with end papers replaced. Good. Hardcover.
"In its annual meeting for 1788, the Philadelphia Association appointed David Jones, Samuel Jones, and Burgiss Allison to prepare a hymnal. The product is A Selection of Psalms and Hymns. This book was the earliest compiled in America at the direction of such a Baptist body, and, bearing the imprimatur of this important group, it was influential...The book's editors were Samuel Jones (1735-1814, pastor of the Pennepek (or Lower Dublin) Baptist Church, and Burgiss Allison (1753-1827), pastor at Bordentown, New Jersey...The brief preface of the 'Philadelphia Collection, signed by Jones, makes the following points: all of the psalms are by Watts; many of the hymns by Cennick, Hart, Steele, Davis, Robinson, and Ken had been taken from a 1774 London anthology, identified simply as The Collection - though the names of the authors had come from Rippon; the initials 'J' and 'A.' indicated the compiler who selected the hymn; suggestions for the use of hymns are intended only as such, and these classifications should not limit their use to a particular function; and the hymns in the last part of the book are intended primarily for private use, but may be sung by a congregation if tunes are known." - Music & Richardson, "I Will Sing the Wondrous Story", p. 130-131.
With a signed provenance card from the collection of A. Merril Smoak, Jr., DWS.
