Bay Psalm Book

Bay Psalm Book common hymnal of the Massachusetts Bay colony. Written by Richard Mather, John Eliot, and Thomas Weld, it was published in 1640 at Cambridge as The Whole Book of Psalms Faithfully Translated into English Metre. The announced effort of the authors to make a literal rendering at the expense of elegance is successful if the crudity of the verse be a criterion. This was the first book published in the Thirteen Colonies.

Bibliography: See Z. Haraszti, The Enigma of the Bay Psalm Book (1956).

Bay Psalm Book. The metrical version of the Psalms produced at Cambridge, Mass. (popularly known in the USA as ‘Bay State’), in 1640. It was the first book to be printed in British America.

Bay Psalm Book, name generally given to The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre, the accepted hymnal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The translation was made by Richard Mather, John Eliot, and Thomas Weld, with the stated intention of sacrificing elegance to accuracy. It was published at Cambridge (1640) by Stephen Daye, and except for a broadside and a brief almanac was the first work printed in the colonies. John Cotton wrote the Preface.