Introduction THE first edition of the Bay Psalm Book, or New England version of the Psalms, printed by Stephen Daye at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1640, has the distinction of being the first book printed in English A merica. When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620, and founded the first permanent colony in New England, they Jbrought with them Henry Ainsworth sversion of the VP salms in prose and metre, with the printed tunes. This version was used in the church at Plymouth until 1692. Elsewhere, the Puritan colonists of the Massachusetts Bay, coming over in 1629 and 1630, sang the words and tunes of Sternhold and Hopkins s Psalms, which for many years had been published with the ordinary editions of the English Biblc. 1T he first edition of Ainsworth sversion has the following title :T he Book of Psalma :E nglished both in prose an Jmetre. IV ith annotations, opening the n-uords and sentences, by conference ivith other scriptures. By H. A. W ith the music A msterdam: Giles Thorp, (iz. 348 pp. 40. (B ritish Museum.) Reprinted in metre in 1618 (L enox), in metre in 1642 (P rince collection in Boston Public Library), in prose and metre in 1644 (B ritish Museum, Lenox), in metre in 1644 (T rinity College at Cambridge), and probably later. The Geneva Bible oi 1569 was probably the first to have this version bound with it. The usual title is: The IV hole Rooke of Psalmes: collected into English mceter by T. Sternhold, J. Hopkins, and others .. .nuith apt notes to sing them nuithall. More than two hundred cditif)ns between the years 1569 and 1640 arc described in the British Museum Catalogue, and it was printed and ajipcars to have been in use as late as 1841.