Bay Psalm Book Sets Record at Auction

  • The first book printed in English in North America just fetched over $14 million. Known as the Bay Psalm Book (The New York Times, 26-Nov-2013), it is, right now, also the most expensive book ever sold at auction. Printed in Massachussets and published in 1640, it is an original translation of the psalms from the Hebrew, used by Puritans in church and at home. One of only 11 known copies, it has historical significance not only because it is so rare, but also because its printing demonstrates acquisition of skill that was previously unknown in the colonies.
JDN | 6-Dec-2013

George Washington ordered his overseers to begin the 1767 wheat harvest on June 24, a hot, cloudy Saturday at the end of a dry week. Thus began twenty days of unrelenting exertion for Mount Vernon’s slaves and no little anxiety for their master, who for the first time had given over his holding almost entirely to the cultivation of grain. Much depended on the success of this experiment, which was a crucial element in Washington’s scheme to free himself of the debts he had accumulated over the years of failing to produce tobacco that would sell on London’s finicky market. Rich as he was in land, he feared that, like so many of his fellow planters, he too would become permanently dependent on his English merchant creditors. It was a fate he dreaded above all, for to suffer it meant that he would lose the essence of a gentleman’s character, independence, and with it the capacity to behave in a truly virtuous way.

Fred Anderson
Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754 - 1766 (2000)