Dupuy's Hymns and Spiritual Songs.
Louisville, KY: Morton and Griswold, 1843. Hardcover. A scarce early American West hymnal, a collection of the hymns of Elder Dupuy. The Reverend Starke Dupuy, a highly esteemed Baptist minister, established the 'Kentucky Missionary and Theologian", the first religious periodical published west of the Alleghany Mountains. Born November 1, 1779, he established the Choctaw and Chickasaw Mission in Mississippi, having been sent there in 1825 by the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions. This edition of Dupuy's Hymns was revised, corrected and enlarged in 1843 by the Rev. J. Peck of Rock Spring, Illinois.
In the Preface, Peck says of Dupuy, "Elder Starke Dupuy, much respected by the Baptist denomination to which he belonged, and by Christians generally". For Baptist congregations in the American South, the hymns selected by Dupuy had a strongly emotional appeal: "As a rule the less educated congregations, especially in the South, carried forward the use of "Spiritual Songs". An especial favorite was Starke Dupuy's Hymns and Spiritual Songs ..." emotional and often illiterate" ('The English Hymn: its Development and Use in Worship', Louis F. Benson. NY: Hodder & Stoughton, 1915. p203).
The Appendix to this volume includes 71 hymns, "some of which are original, and many others are not to be found in the ordinary compilations that circulate through the Western Valley" (Preface, p4). 12mo, 444pp, 55pp appendix & index. Bound in a period hand stitched red leather slipcover, over the original brown leather boards. Leather slipcover a bit rubbed and worn; internally very good condition. OCLC: 13136930. Very good overall. Item #21559
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