Original Sacred Harp 1960 Edition

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N M

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Aug 29, 2021, 9:36:41 AM8/29/21
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Dear all,

I have recently acquired two copies of the "Original Sacred Harp" (Denson Revision) 1960 Edition.

I see that they are not identical, with the following differences:

Book A: The font on the cover is identical to that of the 1936 Denson edition.
Book B: The font on the cover is similar to the font "Aharoni"

Book A: The Preface has blank spaces in the fifth paragraph (I've inserted --- to indicate them):

"--- new songs have been included in the supplement, and nine songs from other sources have been added, making a total of --- songs."

Book B: The text differs:

"91 new songs have been included in the supplement, and 12 songs from other sources have been added, making a total of 103 songs."

Book A: The list of the Board of Directors gives "Rev Elmer Kitchens", as does the Music Committee.
Book B: The list of the Board of Directors gives "Elmer Kitchens", as does the Music Committee (the former in a different font to the other names).

Book A omits "Edited by OWEL W. DENSON Hugh McCraw A. M. Cagle".

Book A has the copyright notice below "COMPOSED BY PRESENT DAY WRITERS" and reads:
Copyright 1960 by The Sacred Harp Publishing Co. Inc.

Book B has the copyright notice above the Board of Directors and reads:
© 1960, by The Sacred Harp Publishing Company. Inc.

Is anyone able to shed any light on the reason for these differences? Could Book A be an early printing, or maybe a pre-publication copy? Its pages are edged in a coppery-orange colour.

Regards,

Nicholas Markwell



Buell Cobb

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Aug 29, 2021, 2:24:54 PM8/29/21
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Ahh, Owel Denson. Bless his heart... Book B is apparently the scandalously produced version he talked the Publishing Co. into. That "coppery-orange colour"? That was what was received instead of his promised gilt-edged pages. One loves the note: "Edited by OWEL W. DENSON, Hugh McGraw A.M. Cagle."

Hugh and "the elders" were, rightly, incensed at the cheaply fabricated version they were sold. A few copies have still been in circulation (I may still have one myself). The great majority succumbed to the elements, having been deposited at a creek or river bank in central Alabama by Hugh or his assistants. 

Not the publishing company's, or Owel's, finest hour.

Buell Cobb
Birmingham, AL



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N M

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Aug 29, 2021, 2:25:23 PM8/29/21
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How intriguing! So the coppery-orange coloured "Book A" is something of a rarity? Despite its claim to have only "nine songs from other sources" and Book B's stating it has "12 songs from other sources", there seems to be no difference in the number of songs overall.

I note that in Book A, LISBON (487t) was "Requested by Raymon Hamrick", and rather amusingly, in both books, BENEFICENCE (486) is credited to the previously unknown "Tate Brandy"! The latter error was perpetuated by the 1966 revision, and not corrected until 1971 (a book I don't yet have, but I imagine the 1987 revision—which I do have—is based on the 1971 revision).

Apropos the 1987 revision, it seems extraordinary that that book was published such a short time before the 1991 revision: the preface of the latter indicates that the Music Committee was appointed in 1985, two years before the 1987 revision. Were the two editions in preparation at the same time, and if so, why bother with the 1987 revision when it must have been known how short its useful life would be?

Bob Richmond

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Aug 29, 2021, 4:25:43 PM8/29/21
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I have a 1971 Sacred Harp. Indeed "Tate Brandy" is corrected to "Tate and Brady", referring of course to the metrical psalter published in 1696 by poet laureate Nahum Tate and Anglican divine Nicholas Brady.

Bob Richmond
New Harp of Columbia treble
Maryville TN


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j frankel

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Aug 30, 2021, 11:07:52 AM8/30/21
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Hugh tells the "we took them to the river" story in that memoir now up on fasola camp's youtube page.

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Robert Vaughn

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Aug 30, 2021, 11:33:53 AM8/30/21
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“Book A: The Preface has blank spaces in the fifth paragraph (I’ve inserted --- to indicate them):
‘--- new songs have been included in the supplement, and nine songs from other sources have been added, making a total of --- songs.’”

Thanks for this info. Good to know some of the differences. My 1960 corresponds to this one with the blank spaces and the coppery-orange edges.

“Hugh tells the ‘we took them to the river’ story in that memoir now up on fasola camp’s youtube page.”

Obviously, they missed a few!

“Apropos the 1987 revision, it seems extraordinary that that book was published such a short time before the 1991 revision: the preface of the latter indicates that the Music Committee was appointed in 1985, two years before the 1987 revision. Were the two editions in preparation at the same time, and if so, why bother with the 1987 revision when it must have been known how short its useful life would be?”

I was hoping someone who knows would weigh in on this 1987 revision. Maybe someone will yet. My guess is that the Publishing Company needed another print run of books to sell before they were able to get out the 1991 Edition. Calling it a 1987 revision suggests at least some changes were made from previous editions.

His glories sing,
Robert Vaughn 
Mount Enterprise, TX
Ask for the old paths, where is the good way
For ask now of the days that are past...
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.


Warren Steel

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Aug 30, 2021, 12:33:35 PM8/30/21
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Robert writes:
>>>I was hoping someone who knows would weigh in on this 1987 revision. Maybe someone will yet. My guess is that the Publishing Company needed another print run of books to sell before they were able to get out the 1991 Edition. Calling it a 1987 revision suggests at least some changes were made from previous editions.

This seems to have been the case. They still needed to sell books before the brand new edition could be compiled and printed. The contents are the same as in the 1971 and 1977 books, but the committee "was appointed to make numerous corrections of typographical errors in spelling and incorrect notes. A diligent search has been made to correct the names of the writers of the words and composers of the music."
I was one of those "consultant specialists" who submitted corrections, mainly on composers, whose names appear in a typewriter font that can be distinguished from the older attributions. A great many "footnotes" were deleted or shortened to get rid of some of the worst "howlers" like "F. F. Chopin" and Bishop Ken.
The book served its purpose, though it was inconveniently large and heavy and made singers glad to have the 1991 edition when it appeared.
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Warren Steel mu...@olemiss.edu
Professor of Music Emeritus University of Mississippi
http://home.olemiss.edu/~mudws/

N M

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Aug 30, 2021, 3:05:38 PM8/30/21
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Warren, you mention that the "contents are the same as in the 1971 and 1977 books". I must confess I am unaware of the 1977 book—could you elaborate?

Regards,

Nicholas

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Haruo (Leland)

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Aug 31, 2021, 2:30:53 AM8/31/21
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I'm curious what makes "Bishop Ken" a howler, let alone one of the worst. Did they attribute HOLY MANNA to him or something?

Robert Vaughn

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Aug 31, 2021, 8:15:32 AM8/31/21
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Robert Vaughn 
Mount Enterprise, TX
Ask for the old paths, where is the good way
For ask now of the days that are past...
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

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Wade Kotter

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Aug 31, 2021, 9:53:35 AM8/31/21
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At least one "howler" in that footnote is the reference to King James II and his "Declaration of INDEPENDENCE" when it was actually his "Declaration of INDULGENCE," declared by James II in 1688, that Bishop Thomas Ken refused to publish. He was committed to the tower briefly but was tried and acquitted. Another "howler," probably more significant, is that Bishop Thomas Ken did not write these words. The text comes from Tate and Brady's New Version of the Psalms of David, published in 1696.

Wade

Wade Kotter
South Ogden, UT
"Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord"


Mike Hinton

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Aug 31, 2021, 4:12:25 PM8/31/21
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Wade
You will appreciate this note.  I have lots of letters from my Aunt Ruth Denson Edwards that were written to me in the late 1960’s and 70’s.  I was in the Army from 1966 and she was a faithful letter writer. Well, she was a faithful writer if I wrote letters back to her. She wrote very nice and newsy letters and she often talked about Sacred Harp Singings she had attended. But, if you did not write letters back to her, she would not write to you.  

I was in the Army from Sept 1965 and was in Viet Nam in 1966-67. She wrote many letters to me. And she made a sour cream pound cake and sent it to me in Viet Nam. It was a wonderful cake and my hooch mates and I enjoyed every bite of it. When I was back in AL I visited Aunt Ruth and raved about the cake and I asked her for the recipe.  She so “No, I don’t won’t to do that because I won’t have anything special to make when you are here”  I didn’t get the receipe until after she died and Amanda gave it to me and it was in the book “A Sacred Feast” by Kathryn Eastman. 

Aunt Ruth lived in a large “rooming house” for many years. I have some letters from the 1966 and later when they were working on a revision. She wrote in detail about what happened when something was written for is inclusion in the book.

She had a high school student who had a “good” typewriter and he knew how to use it very well.  Aunt Ruth would write something to go in the book revision in long hand writing and give the pages to the student.  He would type the pages and return them to her.  She would read the pages and make corrections and return the pages to the young student to correct and give them back to her.  She would read them again and make sure no more corrections were needed. If the pages were good, she would mail them to Hugh or he would pick them up when he came to take her to a singing.

Hugh would often drive from his house in GA and pick up Aunt Ruth in Cullman then drive her to a singing in AL or GA. He would drive thousands of miles and Aunt Ruth always wanted to help him buy new sets of tires. Hugh was the son that she never had. She loved him dearly. 

When all that writing and reading was going on, Aunt Ruth would write about how her eyes hurt and how she could not read any more until the next day. Anything that was written or letters that were sent by the publishing company during that era were written by her.  She wanted to be sure what was sent from the publishing company was correct.  And with her sharp eye after teaching 4th grade “for nearly 100 years,” she could find the errors!

Anyway, that is how much of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company business was conducted for some years.

Mike Hinton
San Antonio, TX

Wade Kotter

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Aug 31, 2021, 4:12:44 PM8/31/21
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So good to hear from you, Mike. I think all of us will appreciate this note. To the broader audience, please understand that I'm not being critical of the people involved in creating and editing those charming footnotes. In most cases, the "mistakes" are completely understandable given the sources available at the time they were created and edited; we have access to so much more information today. A few years ago, I started compiling the footnotes for each song from the 1911 James book through each revision up to the 1987 "edition" in order to track the changes over time, but I had to abandon the project due to demands from work, etc.. Perhaps when I retire in a few years I'll return to that project, although I still have a slew of other projects I've only partially completed Emoji

Take care and keep on singing.

Wade Kotter
South Ogden, UT
"Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord"

David Olson

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Aug 31, 2021, 4:13:06 PM8/31/21
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Wade Kotter writes:

> Another "howler," probably more significant, is that Bishop Thomas Ken did not write these words. 

this is more a statement of faith than a "howler" 

Bishop Ken penned the Doxology that many of us grew up singing to this tune

  Praise God from whom all blessings flow
  Praise Him all creatures here below
  Praise Him above yet heav'nly host
  Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

I cannot read those words without the sound of childhood congregations and church picnics filling my ears with harmonies. 

It's not a "howler"

It's a secret desire to have Bishop Ken in our well-shaped repertoire. 

David Olson
Los Angeles


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Leland Ross

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Sep 2, 2021, 2:21:51 AM9/2/21
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I see. Those are funny bits of misinformation. Ken did write the "Praise God from whom all blessings flow" doxology, not to be used for the offertory hymn but as a closing Trinitarian doxology to his morning and evening hymns. Thanks, both of you, for the responses.

Leland Bryant Ross aka Ros' Haruo (呂須•春男)
Delegito en Seattle, Universala Esperanto-Asocio
My Hymn Blog | Mia Himna Blogo — The Seattle Esperanto Society
Sankta Harmonio (formnotacia libro plurlingva) — Biblioteko Culbert

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