[Illustration]
_Bibliographical Notes and Lists of Editions_
_Bibliographical Notes_
Although for several generations last past, the little book which
we are considering has been known as the _Divine and Moral Songs_,
it did not always bear this full title. Throughout the first
seventy-five years of its existence it was known simply as the
“Divine Songs”, in spite of the fact that during all that time the
book contained “a slight specimen of Moral Songs”, from two in the
earlier editions to the full complement of seven later. I have seen
no copies of the 13th, 14th or 15th editions, but the 16th edition
(1740) has the title extended by the following words: “With some
additional composures”, that being the first title-page reference
to the _Moral Songs_ which I have found. No copy, issued by the
regular publishers, so far as I have discovered, ever bore the words
“and Moral Songs”. The first occurrence of the _Moral Songs_ in the
title, which I find, is in an edition issued in London in 1785,
under the name of “Dr. Watts’s Hymns and Moral Songs for the use of
Children Revised and Altered ... By a Lady.” It is not until 1794
that I find the now well-known title of _Divine and Moral Songs_.
The twenty-seventh edition (1795) is the last one which I find
bearing the number of the edition, although the book continued to be
published by the same people or their successors at least until 1821.
From 1785 numerous editions appeared bearing the names of other
publishers and “Printed by permission of the Proprietors.” The first
edition emanating in Great Britain outside of London, which I have
found, was printed in Welsh at Caerfyrddin in 1771, and in 1776 an
edition was published from Salisbury in English. A few Dutch items
have been included in the British list.
Substantially all of the editions which have come to my attention
have on their title-pages the quotation from Matt. XXI, 16, “Out of
the mouth of babes, etc.”, but in the following list of editions that
quotation is indicated in the interest of brevity, except in the
first edition, by a few dashes after the author’s name. Where not
so indicated, it is not necessarily to be inferred that it does not
so appear, but only that the writer has been unable to verify that
appearance.
A date followed by a question-mark in parentheses indicates that the
date is doubtful or approximate.
In the following list of editions various references are abbreviated
as follows:
_A.A._ American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.
_B._ Private collection.
_B.A._ Boston Athenæum.
_B.M._ Library of the British Museum.
_B.H._ Bates Hall Public Library, Boston, Mass.
_Bod._ Bodleian Library, Oxford.
_B.P._ Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, N. Y.
_Bos._ Boston Public Library.
_Bro._ Brown University Library, Providence, R. I.
_Bry._ Bryson Library, Teachers College, New York.
_Conn._ Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn.
_Esx._ Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.
_Evans._ American Bibliography by Chas. Evans, 1903.
_Gen._ Library General Theological Seminary, New York.
_Har._ Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
_Hild._ The Issues of the Press in Pennsylvania by Chas.
R. Hildeburn, 1885.
_L.C._ Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.
_L.I._ Long Island Historical Society, Brooklyn, N. Y.
_Lown._ The Bibliographer’s Manual of English Literature
by William Thomas Lowndes, London, 1869.
_New._ Newberry Library, Chicago, Ill.
_Nich._ Bibliography of Worcester (Mass.) by Chas. L.
Nichols, 1899.
_N.L._ Free Public Library, Newark, N. J.
_N.L.I._ National Library of Ireland, Dublin.
_NR._ indicates that no record of a copy has been found
by the compiler.
_N.Y._ New York Public Library.
_N.Y.His._ New York Historical Society, New York City.
_N.Y.S._ New York State Library, Albany, N. Y.
_O.P._ Private collection.
_Penn. His._ Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
_P.L._ Peabody Library, Baltimore, Md.
_Peq._ Pequot Library, Southport, Conn.
_S._ Author’s collection.
_Trum._ List of Books printed in Connecticut, 1709–1800,
by James Hammond Trumbull, Acorn Club, Hartford,
1904.
_U.T._ Union Theological Seminary, New York.
_Wat._ Watkinson Library, Hartford, Conn.
_Yale._ Library of Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE.
LORD, how delightful ’tis to see
A whole Assembly worship thee!
At once they sing, at once they pray;
They hear of Heav’n, and learn the Way.]
_The British Editions_
Divine | Songs | Attempted in Easy Lan- | guage for the Use of |
Children. | By I. Watts. | Out of the Mouth of Babes and Sucklings
thou hast perfected | Praise. Matt. XXI: 16. | London: | Printed for
M. Lawrence at the Angel | in the Poultry. 1715. | pp. 72. 5⅞ × 3½;
Full leather. Copy sold at Sotheby’s, London, July 1902, for £155.
Now in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. Another copy was sold
at Sotheby’s, March 1907, for £55.
Divine Songs, etc. 2nd edition. 1716. Only one copy known.
Divine Songs, etc. 3rd edition. Printed by R. Ford at the Angel in
the Poultry. 1719. Copy sold at Sotheby’s, April 1911. Mor. ex. £1-7.
Third edition advertised at the back of The Psalms of David, etc., by
I. Watts. 3rd ed. London, John Clark and Rich. Ford. M.DCC.XXII.
Divine Songs Attempted in Easy Language for the Use of Children.
London: R. Ford. 1720. 4th edition. Calf. 12^{o}. Copy offered by Maggs
Bros., London, 1909, £4-10.