Suppressed by Friends
Psalms and Hymns for Pubic Worship, Containing All the Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts, which are deemed valuable, together with a New Version of All the Psalms, and Many Original Hymns.
Allen, William.
Boston: Wm. Pierce; N. York: Leavitt, Lord & Co., Hartford: D. Burgess & Co, 1835.
Price:
$2,500.00
About the item
Engraved additional title. xlvii, [1], 690pp. 12mo. Publisher's cloth, worn with chips and losses at spine, restoration at joints. Provenance: Anderson Galleries, April 13, 1909, lot 5 (clipping on front pastedown); General Theological Seminary (perforated stamps and other markings).
Item #378677
A rare and likely suppressed volume of original hymns by Congregationalist minister William Allen (1784-1868), who served as the President of Bowdoin from 1820-1839.
An early pencil note on the front endpaper, smudged though readable, explains: "This is one of the rarest of books. The students of Bowdoin made such farce in singing the hymns that the friends of Dr. Allen bought up all the copies they could get & burned them." An early newspaper clipping on the endpapers further supports the story: "Like many other eminent men, [Allen] thought he was a poet and published his Psalms and Hymns, a volume of over 600 original hymns if I remember correctly. Thre preface is a learned, critical and very valuable history of the different hymn books issued. He speaks of the faults of the authors from which he flatters himself, his own hymns are free. Others, however, did not share his favorable opinion and the students of Bowdoin, taking every opportunity, student-like, to throw ridicule on their instructors, used to single out stanzas not specially euphonious and sing them when the president and professors were in a position to hear. One stanza was a favorite, where 'wild buffalo' was made to ryhme with 'Timbuctoo.' So annoyed were the friends of Dr. Allen, though he himself is not known to have thought his offsping unworthy, that they bought up every copy they could secure and destroyed them. So well was this done that, years after, the Rev. Dr. Roswell D. Hitchcock, then a professor at Bowdoin, had never seen a copy."
We find no example at auction since 1912, though a number of examples located in OCLC.
