Bay Psalm Book

The earliest book known to have been printed in English in the British North American colonies. Compiled by John Eliot,* Richard Mather, and Thomas Weld, and printed by Stephen Day at Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1640, it was intended to give a more literal translation of the Hebrew Psalms than that of the King James Version, and yet be suitable for congregational singing. The Whole Book of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre became the approved hymnal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was popular in other colonies and in Britain.