Provenance: Riggs family: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of philanthropist Elisha Francis Riggs, who funded the Riggs Library at Georgetown University; volume inherited by T. Lawrason Riggs, founding chaplain of St. Thomas More Chapel, Yale University; donated to St. Thomas More Chapel Library; deaccessioned 2008.

•  ESTC S106924; STC (2nd ed.), 1169; Gibson, Bacon, 171. On Bacon, see: Dictionary of National Biography.   18th-century calf framed in gilt single fillet, spine with recent gilt-stamped leather title and author labels, board edges with gilt roll; a little rubbed and covers with portions darkened. All edges stained yellow. Front pastedown with bookplate as above. Some pages gently age-toned, with occasional minor spotting. Small hole to added engraved title-page just beneath publication information, not affecting text. Final blank leaf (only) lacking.  (24666)

•  Herbert 298; Darlow & Moule 230; STC (rev. ed.) 2206. Concordances: ESTC S122240; STC (rev. ed.) 13232. Psalmes: ESTC S124337; STC (rev. ed.) 2533.5.   Period-inspired later (late 19th-/early 20th-century) calf, covers framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and blind-tooled decorations; joints and corners refurbished, spine leather and label with minor cracking. All edges stained red. Title-page mounted, with old repaired tear; a few outer corners replaced, with loss of a few words from notes (only); one leaf with tear from lower margin, extending into text without loss; one leaf with burn hole towards upper outer corner, with loss of a few letters from several lines. Bible (Deuteronomy) with ff. 79 and 80 torn out, f. 436 lacking after Apocrypha and before “The Summe of the whole Scripture”; Concordances lacking f. C8; Psalmes lacking final 34 pp. Paper good, though darkened and spotted; a number of scattered early inked marks and marginalia.  (26610)

The volume opens with two fly-leaves bearing genealogical records in several different early inked hands, with dates ranging from 1743 through 1847. A copy of Speed's Genealogies precedes the Old Testament, while the “Description of Canaan” with map that should close the Genealogies has been bound in after the O.T. title-page.

•  ESTC S122379; Darlow & Moule 359; STC (2nd ed.) 2298.5. Speed: ESTC S126191; STC (2nd ed.) 23039a.4. Psalms: ESTC S122383; STC (2nd ed.) 2633.   Recent mottled calf, covers fillet-framed and panelled in blind with decorative inner blind roll and blind-tooled corner fleurons; spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-ruled raised bands. Front cover with two slender scrapes; title-page with date altered in ink to 1633, as above. Front fly-leaves with margins repaired; “Description of Canaan” with inner margin reinforced. Bible, seven preliminary leaves lacking (calendar, dedication, preface, and list of books all present); Psalms, four final index leaves (only) lacking; foliation slightly erratic. Varying degrees of age-toning, occasional light waterstaining, some margins with faint smudging; in fact and in suma nice volume to hold and work with.  (26102)

Arndt and Eck cite Bender, who says “This first American Mennonite Hymnbook isnot to be confused with one of similar title printed by Saur at Germantown in 1753, called erroneously by Seidensticker and Flory a Mennonite hymnbook.” Each portion of this item has a separate title-page, with the second section's title-page reading Sammlung altre und neuer Geistreichen Gesänge. The woodcut frontispiece depicts David playing his harp.

•  Arndt & Eck 2419; Shoemaker 2239.   Contemporary calf rebacked some time ago, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and publication labels; rubbed, original clasps now lacking. Front fly-leaves with early inked and pencilled inscriptions. Final leaf (pp. 21/22 of the 22-page appendix of brief hymn texts, not of the main portion of the work) lacking. Edge nicks, chips, and tears, some extending into text; three leaves torn in half from outer margin, without loss of text; two leaves (one index) with lower outer corner torn away, with loss of a few words; last two leaves with outer edges ragged. Some upper corners bumped. Pages browned, with waterstaining to lower inner portions of about a third of the volume.  (25569)

•  Good in printed paper wrappers, sewing all but gone and signatures separated. (521)

•  Publisher's quarter cloth with printed paper sides. Covers a little soiled and rubbed. A very good copy of a scarce children's book.  (4191)