Watts, Isaac; Rippon, John. The Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts, arranged by Dr. Rippon; with Dr. Rippon's Selection. In one volume, with enlarged and Improved Indexes. Philadelphia: David Clarke, 1827 & 1831.[9065]
Full leather; no title label, 5 3/4 x 3 1/2 inches tall, binding edges & corners exposed, joints are fine. Title page then xi., which is "J" in the table of first lines. xi.-xxxvi., 37-900, ix.-x., 3-4 pinned in at back. Leaf 435-6 torn with loss of about 1 inch at bottom affecting some lines, many dog-eared corners, a few leaves pulled but not detached. Lacks the last three leaves of the Index of Subjects and two leaves of the Table of first lines. All hymn pages are present. Fair. Full leather.
The Selection of Hymns has a separate title page, same imprint, with the date 1827.
The second section is titled, A Selection of Hymns, from the Best Authors, including A Great Number of Originals: Intended to be an Appendix to Dr. Watts's Psalms and Hymns. By John Rippon, D.D. Philadelphia: D. Clark, 1827. The pagination is continuous from the first section.
John Rippon (1751-1836), English Baptist minister & hymn-writer, "one of the most popular and influential Dissenting ministers of his time." Educated for the ministry at the Baptist College, Bristol, "in 1773 he became Pastor of the Baptist church in Carter Lane, Tooley Street (afterwards removed to New Park Street), London, and over this church he continued to preside until his death, on Dec. 17, 1836...His most famous work is his Selection of hymns for public worship, which appeared in 1787...In 1791 he published a Selection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes...Dr. Rippon performed an important service to Baptist Hymnody, and also, it is said, gained for himself 'an estate' through its immense sale." - Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology.
"Like the majority of his co-religionists, Rippon gave his warm sympathy to the Americans during the war of independence, and was in correspondence with leading baptists on the other side of the Atlantic."...From 1790 to 1802 Rippon edited The Baptist Annual Register." Rippon collected material relating to Bunhill Fields, the nonconformist burial ground in London, and his eleven volumes of manuscripts were purchased by the British Museum from a descendant in 1870, which included biographies of hundreds of nonconformist ministers.
"Rippon is best known as the compiler of a 'Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors, intended as an Appendix to Dr. Watts's Psalms and Hymns,' London, 1827...Rippon published a tenth edition, with sixty additional hymns, in 1800, (London). A thirtieth edition, with further additional hymns, appeared in 1830; and in 1844 appeared the 'comprehensive edition,' known to hymnologists as 'The Comprehensive Rippon,' containing all 1,170 hymns in one hundred metres. Among a few hymns of Rippon's own composition are some of acknowledged merit, such as 'The day has dawned, Jehovah comes.'" - DNB.
With a signed provenance card from the collection of A. Merril Smoak, Jr., DWS.