Emma Smith. A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Selected by Emm...

Description

Emma Smith. A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Selected by Emma Smith. Nauvoo, Ill: Printed by E. Robinson, 1841. Rare first edition of the Nauvoo hymnal, Emma Smith's second compilation, the first having appeared in 1835. Sixteenmo (4 x 2.5 inches; 12 x 65 mm.). iv, [5]-351, [1, blank] pages. "Copy right secured" (verso of title-page). Includes index of first lines. Without music. Contemporary sheep; top edge appears to be sprinkled red. Rubbed and worn, but still very attractive. Very minor worming to rear cover, and to rear pastedown and final blank leaf. Endpapers and first few leaves browned around the edges. Minor foxing and browning. Small piece (measuring approximately 1.25 x .5 inches) torn from upper corner of front free endpaper; half-inch tear to lower margin of pages 289/290, just entering text on verso; lower edge of pages 319/320, 321/322, 323/324, and 325/326 bumped slightly, with a few tiny tears and crumpling; printing error or paper flaw on pages 187/288, affecting a couple of words on both recto and verso; short crease in the upper corner of pages 55/56, just affecting pagination; several additional corners creased or folded; lower corner of last few leaves curled slightly; a few leaves closely cropped at outer edge (no loss). Tiny stain in the text on pages 337/338, concealing one letter on both recto and verso; a few additional tiny marginal stains. Despite these minor flaws, this is a very nearly fine, complete copy, totally unrestored and unsophisticated. Early owner's pencil signatures on the front free endpaper: Elizabeth Sikes (most likely [1822-1844]). Elizabeth F. Sikes was the first wife of Wilson Law (1806-1876); they were married by Joseph Smith on 25 December 1842, in Nauvoo; Elizabeth died fifteen months later on 31 March 1844. Crawley 103 (locating 10 institutional copies); Flake-Draper 1761 (also locating ten copies); A Mormon Fifty 6.

More Information: "The first Mormon hymnal has its beginning in the revelation to Joseph Smith, July 1830 (D&C 25), in which Emma Smith, Joseph's wife, was designated to make a selection of hymns for the use of the Church. Twenty-two months later, in Independence, the Literary Firm brought W. W. Phelps to this undertaking when it directed him to 'correct and print the hymns which had been selected by Emma Smith in fulfilment of the revelation.' The printing of the Book of Commandments, the destruction of the Independence press, and the printing of the Doctrine and Covenants delayed the publication of a hymnal, but once the Doctrine and Covenants was out of press, Phelps immediately turned his attention to it. A Collection of Sacred Hymns contains the texts of ninety hymns (pp. [5]-121), following a preface (pp. [iii]-iv) which was certainly written by Phelps. An 'Index to find a Hymn by the first line' is at the end (pp. [i]-v)...Of the ninety hymns, forty-two had appeared earlier in The Evening and the Morning Star, the Evening and Morning Star; and the Messenger and Advocate" (Crawley 23, describing the 1835 first edition).

"By the summer of 1839 the Kirtland hymnbook was out of print...The 1841 hymnal retains the 1835 preface (pp. [iii]-iv). It includes the texts of 303 songs (pp. [5]-340), numbered 1-304, with 'The Glorious Day is Rolling On' printed twice as nos. 11 and 135. Seventy-seven of the hymns are in the 1835 book, of which seventy-three are in the 1840 hymnal (item 78). Seventy-eight other are taken from the 1840 hymnal. Five more are from the 1839 Elsworth book (item 61). Of the remaining 143 hymns, only ten are of Mormon authorship: three each by Eliza R. Snow and Mary Judd Page, and one each by Hosea Stout, Robert B. Thompson, W. W. Phelps, and Austin Cowles. Twenty-four of the new hymns are by Isaac Watts, seven by Charles Wesley. An index of first lines is at the end (pp. [341]-351). The Nauvoo hymnal occurs in several bindings, including plain brown sheep with ruled or decorative gilt bands and the title in gilt or in blind on the backstrip" (Crawley 103).

Signatures: [1]^16 2-11^16.