Tillinghast, J.; Knight, R. The Old Baptist Hymn Book. Providence: (S. W. Potter, Printer, Pawtucket, R. I.), 1842. First Edition. [8523]
Full calf with black calf title label, gilt lines to spine, 4 3/4 x 6 inches. 304 pp., complete, pages with light foxing, tight. Very good. Hardcover.
Starr, A Baptist Bibliography, K1881 & T1782. The only edition published; WorldCat with 8 locations.
"...we have, with much labor, compiled the following hymns, for the use of the Old Baptist Churches in worshiping Almighty God...We have inserted a number of original hymns, to be used at the laying on of hands, composed by elder Richard Knight..." - Preface, by Tillinghast.
Elder John Tillinghast (1812-1878), b. & d. at West Greenwich, Rhode Island. He was converted at the age of sixteen, began preaching at age twenty-one, and ordained pastor of the West Greenwich Baptist church in 1840, and remained in that office until his death. He was considered to be "studious and industrious...an energetic, practical, and powerful preacher...honored by Dr. Wayland and all preachers...one of the best of men." - Cathcart, The Baptist Encyclopedia (1881).
Tillinghast was the editor of the short-lived Zion's Friend, and General or Six Principle Baptist Register.
Elder Richard Knight (1771-1863), b. Cranston, Rhode Island; d. Coventry, Rhode Island. He was pastor of the Six Principle Baptist Church in Scituate for fifty years, wrote a history of the denomination, a hymn book, and several pamphlets. "He lived an exemplary life and was honored and respected. he was ordained to the ministry [in] 1809, when he was 38 years old, preached the Gospel of Christ 50 years, without compensation, as other ministers of the same denomination did, obtained his living and supported his family laboring as other men on his farm, and as a land surveyor..." - The Narragansett Historical Register, Vol. VIII, No. 2, July, 1890.
With a signed provenance card from the collection of A. Merril Smoak, Jr., DWS.