Holme, John Stanford. The Baptist Hymn and Tune Book: being "The Plymouth Collection" enlarged, and adapted to the use of Baptist Churches. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman & Co., 1858. First Edition. [9399]
Black leather spine with purple pebble cloth boards, cloth lacking from front board, 8 1/2 x 5 3/4 inches, binding is tight. Lacks the front and back end papers, liii., 520 (of 521)pp., lacking the last page of the parallel index of hymns. Damp stains in the indexes and rear end papers, inactive mold stains on the rear paste-down. Several center leaves have an old paste or damp stain in the center of the pages. Poor. Hardcover.
Unattractive: fine for a research or reading copy, but not as a collectible. As of this posting (June 2023) this is the only original copy we see online.
The Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes (1855) was named for Plymouth Congregational Church in Brooklyn, New York, where Henry Ward Beecher was pastor. It is recognized as the first "modern" hymnal featuring the combination of hymns and tunes in one volume.
The hymnal offered here is a Baptist edition, edited to reflect Baptist beliefs.
"This 'Baptist Edition' was the work of John Stanford Holme (1822-1884), pastor of the Pierrepont Street Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York, with the 'Musical Arrangement...under the control of Professor Robert R. Raymond'...This Baptist Edition...proved to be popular among the churches, with reprints or further editions being published in 1859, 1864, 1865, and 1870." - Music & Richardson, "I Will Sing the Wondrous Story", p. 212 & 213.
With a signed provenance card from the collection of A. Merril Smoak, Jr., DWS.
