Vanderbilt paid at least seven times its weight in
gold for his precious book. Lowndes's "Bibliographers' Manual" says, "This
volume, which is extremely rare and would at an auction in America produce
from four to six thousand dollars, is familiarly termed 'The Bay Psalm
Book.'" This must have been intended to be printed four to six hundred
dollars, and is about as correct as the remainder of the description in
that manual.
The copy which is spoken of by Mr. Stevens as being in the Bodleian Library
at Oxford was once the property of Bishop Tanner, the famous antiquary.
Thus it is seen that there are seven copies at least of the first edition
of "The Bay Psalm-Book" now in existence in America, instead of "five or
at the most six," as a recent writer in "The Magazine of American History"
states.
And of all the manifold later editions of the New England Psalm-Book
comparatively few copies now remain. Occasionally one is discovered in an
old church library or seen in the collection of an antiquary. It is usually
found to bear on its titlepage the name of its early owner, and often,
also, in a different handwriting, the simple record and date of his death.
Tender little memorial postils are frequently written on the margins of
the pages: "Sung this the day Betty was baptized"--"This Psalm was sung at
Mothers Funeral" "Gods Grace help me to heed this word.
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