New Version, Supplement

‘New Version’, Supplement (c. 1700). Shortly after the New Version (1696) came A Supplement to the New Version of Psalms. In some ways it was a more significant enterprise than its parent book, for it was not a mere substitute for the Old Version. It offered a group of new hymns and tunes, some of which gained a permanent foothold in English hymnody. The Supplement was advertised in the 1698 Hodgkin edition of the New Version, for binding up with the volume in either size; but the earliest known editions (octavo and duodecimo) are both dated 1700. They were printed by John Heptinstall, but it is not entirely clear who was behind the publication. It was only ‘sold at Stationers Hall’ and by...