Book Minute

What many don't know is that the book of Psalms is one of the few books of the Bible to be printed as a stand-alone book. In fact, it was the first book to be printed in the British colonies of North America. It was titled, The Whole Booke of Psalms, but became more popularly known as the Bay Psalm Book.

In 1639, the ministers and magistrates in the colonies chose three ministers to translate the Psalms into metered English from the Hebrew texts—John Eliot, Richard Mather, and Thomas Welde. About 1,700 copies were printed in 1640 in Massachusetts. The Bay Psalm Book quickly became popular in churches in the New England colonies.