Pocket Psalter

You'd think the psalter -- the "songbook of the church" -- would be easy to find. Just try and find standalone copies and you'll discover it's not. After hunting around, though, I found an impressive example of the genre, a green hardback pocket Psalter published by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery (though I actually got mine from Liturgica.com). For $14, you get a hardback with a sewn binding, printed on "Mohawk Superfine, an acid-free paper of the highest quality and durability." The design is Old School in the best sense, a two-color layout that is a delight to the eyes and suggests a love both for the psalter and the printer's art.

This psalter is based on the Septuagint and is newly translated. It measures 4 1/4 x 6 1/2 x 5/8".

Is there anyone out there with some insight into psalters? I'd love to know more about what's out there, who uses them, and so on.

Comments

I have a copy of The Canadian Psalter (from 1963), which is simply the Coverdale translation of the Psalms used in the Book of Common Prayer, set to Anglican chant. It's very well done, actually. I've also seen a plainsong edition of it.

[Daniel Howe]

As usual, the blog is lovely, and the photography a treat. I'm glad that this time you refrained from the usual yoga: not just because it's impractical in a hardback, but because "David the Prophet and King" does not look like he would stand for it!

I'm a pastor in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), a denomination of 6,500+ worldwide dating to the 1790s in America but rooted in the Covenanter movement of the 17th century and especially the "killing times" of the 1680s in Lowland Scotland. Although this used to be true of all Presbyterians (and indeed, all Christians - witness the non-ecumenical Council of Laodicea in 364), we are one of the few exclusively psalm-singing groups left, at least in the west (Eastern Orthodoxy still relies on the psalms in a way that most of the west does not).

Our denomination publishes the Book of Psalms for Singing; if you'd like I'll find a way to send along a few photos. It's laid out in metrical, four-part harmony, much like most hymnals (but a bit simpler because a cappella performance is assumed). Our brothers in other psalm-singing groups across the water (Scotland, Northern Ireland, and also parts of Asia) use different editions - many of them are "split leaf" (I can send a few photos of this, too). That means that an upper music-only portion of the page is separate from a lower words-only portion. All the words are set in Common, Short, or Long Meter - meaning that one psalm can be sung to many, many tunes. (In practice only a few are used for each psalm, of course.) The Book of Psalms for Singing splits the 150 psalms up into 560+ selections. Some psalms only get one selection (e.g. 3); some are split into several (e.g. 72); some are split into several and repeated with alternative selections (e.g. 18).

My Bulgarian Orthodox friends use something like the Psalter you featured; they simply chant the unmetered text. That is closer to the ancient practice, of course. Our psalter has probably five chants; very few people have the chutzpah to try them, but when done well they are stunning and haunting.

Several psalters are available from: http://www.crownandcovenant.com/Psalters_s/31.htm

[Daniel Howe]

I should add a little more.

As with Bible translations, psalter translations present a three-way tension: literary accuracy, beauty, and continuity with tradition. The famous Rouse Psalter and Bay Psalm Book (both mid-17th century) sacrificed beauty to accuracy. In the 20th century my denomination has published four psalters, attempting to shed King James phrasing in favor of modern language while maintaining continuity with tradition. The RPCNA will publish a new psalter next year (spring or summer) that will be the first to drop archaic language and terminology (including "Jehovah," which will be entirely replaced by "the LORD"). Our Irish sister-denomination recently replaced a very old translation, whose worst excesses were simply impenetrable: "Froward thou kithest to the froward wight" in Psalm 18:26. I personally will miss the King James English - but the price will be worth it. I have an African refugee family in my congregation who are still learning English; 21st century American English is enough work without adding 17th century King's English!

[John Newell]

Wow, the psalter - one of my favorite devotional resources. The splatter factor in my life is pretty high right now so I will be very brief.

First, I want to plug my favorite translation of the Psalter, which is that contained in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer of the U.S. Protestant Episcopal Church. What's fascinating to me from a text/translation perspective is that although it was a new translation, the vocabulary was largely restricted to the vocabulary available to Myles Coverdale in 1549. What's the significance of that? Coverdale's Psalter (which by the way was a translation into English from a Latin translation of the (Greek) Septuagint translation from the Hebrew text) significantly pre-dates the KJV (obviously) but was, with some modificatons over time, carried forward in the Episcopal Church through the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. So, although the 1979 BCP has a new translation, the texture and feel of the translation is very traditional and simple.

Second, I want to mention that the BCP version of the Psalter is broken up into morning and evening segments for each day of the month. Thus, you can go through the whole Psalter in a month. You can get editions that are ony the Psalter (http://www.churchpublishing.org/products/index.cfm?fuseaction=productDetail&productID=167) or a beautiful, two-volume leather bound Daily Office book that contains the daily lectionary texts from the OT, NT and gospels and the psalms for each morning and evening over a two-year cycle (http://www.churchpublishing.org/products/index.cfm?fuseaction=productDetail&productID=62). Not inexpensive, but very nice.

Third, I want to highlight a wonderful little book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer titled "Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible." It's a marvelous, short book about how to pray the psalms. (Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Psalms-Prayer-Bible-Dietrich-Bonhoeffer/dp/0806614390) Very, very highly recommended reading.

Many thanks for keeping us all thinking with your blog!

[Jacob Newman]

First, I've lurked on your blog for a while, and it's always a fascinating read.

Anyway, to the point. I come from an Orthodox Jewish background, and among Orthodox Jews, standalone Tehillim (psalters) are common. Even any small Jewish bookstore will have a half a dozen different editions. Almost all are Hebrew only, or Hebrew-English, though I think I've seen a Hebrew-Russian one once. Of course, Jewish psalters contain the psalms according to the Masoretic Text and numbering.
The eight-hundred-pound gorilla of American Jewish publishing is Artscroll press, and they publish a large number of editions with English translation, transliteration, commentary, et al. See: http://www.artscroll.com/Categories/the.html

One of their more interesting editions is their Children's Tehillim:
http://www.artscroll.com/Books/tehch.html
I've never examined it in depth, but it looks interesting.

There are, of course, dozens of publishers of Hebrew books, and every one of them seems to put out a Tehillim: see here for a few (dozen) examples.
http://www.nehora.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.searchResults

Thanks for the engaging blog!

[Scott W. Kay]

This looks like a beautiful edition, especially with the red and black printing and nice binding and size. I'm curious though (out of ignorance): Would this be a bit Catholic (i.e. RCC) in it's approach? If so, in what ways? In other words, how would this Psalter differ with one from the Reformed tradition?

The reason I ask is that it's intriguing that you post this just as I was beginning to look into Psalters myself. Amazing timing. I was unaware of the Crown and Covenant editions (thanks Daniel!), but I had found one that looked like it represented the evangelical Reformed tradition since it was published by Reformation Heritage Books, but there really isn't much of a description of it here: http://www.heritagebooks.org/bookstore/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=4098

[Alan]

The book is very well done typographically, and Mohawk is very nice paper. It's usually reserved for higher volume fine printing, if that makes any sense. Is there a colophon in the very back outlining the fonts used, etc.?

[J. Mark Bertrand]

Scott, this is an Orthodox psalter. In the Reformed tradition, in addition to the resources David mentions, there is also the metrical psalter, which is included in the back of several of my Bibles (mainly KJVs from the Trinitarian Bible Society). And of course, thanks to David Koysis, the Genevan Psalter is online:

http://genevanpsalter.redeemer.ca/

I know there are people in the Reformed tradition setting psalms to more contemporary music for use in worship (for example, Intown Psalms -- http://cdbaby.com/cd/intown). And then there's the old school approach, Psalms from the Trinity Psalter: http://www.trinitybookservice.org/31604.html.

Alan, I should have posted a photo of the colophon, but since I didn't, here's what it says: "The Psalter was typeset in Monotype Plantin by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery and printed in an edition of 5000 copies by Friesens in Altona, Manitoba, Canada, on Mohawk Opaque, an acid-free paper of proven durability. GLORY BE TO GOD FOR ALL THINGS. AMEN."

[Scott W. Kay]

Thanks for the info Mark. I see my assumptions were incorrect. Thanks also for the additional resources.

[Kevin P. Edgecomb]

I also have one of these. This Psalter resembles the other publications of Holy Transfiguration Monastery (like St John Climacus' Ladder of Divine Ascent, St Isaac of Nineveh's Ascetical Homilies, The Great Horologion, etc), with the quality paper and solid binding, and the two-color printing, with delightful little Byzantine-style line drawings scattered throughout. There is also a larger-sized edition of this Psalter, which includes additional introductory material, though I think this larger edition has just gone out of print.

As these HTM Psalters are designed for the personal use of Orthodox Christians, the sections into which the Psalter is divided for daily reading are included, the kathismata. You may read more of this system here. The various arrangements ensure that the Psalter is read in its entirety over the course of one week during most of the year, and twice a week during the Great Fast of Lent. This is a pious practice for laypeople based in monastic traditional practices.

Regarding differences, this translation of the Septuagint's Psalms is in places quite different than the translations from Hebrew texts which most Protestant readers will be most familiar with, reflecting the differences in the underlying source texts. Also, this is a somewhat archaizing translation (though still readable), utilizing Thee and Thou and such; it is not a paraphrase, but quite literal. It's a very nice little Psalter.

[Andrew]

John: I believe that the Psalter in the 1985 Book of Alternative Services is the same as the one in the 1979 BCP (with a few adaptations for Canadian English), so I've had some exposure to it. I didn't actually know that detail about its imitation of Coverdale. It is a fairly decent modern translation, although personally I like the Psalter found in Common Worship (from the Church of England) a bit better yet.

Still, though, you just can't beat good old Coverdale (still available, by the way, in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer). I remember C. S. Lewis writing in Reflections on the Psalms that he found them the most poetic, although with them going on 500 years old, they're not exactly up to the latest scholarly standards.

[Thomas Black]

One thing not dwelt on is the beauty of the color. As you've mentioned elsewhere, basic black is the standard for Bibles with the occasional burgundy or tan thrown in for balance. But I've been in search of a beautiful high quality bound green leather bible. Particularly I'd love a Hebrew OT, Greek NT bound in that beautiful color.

[David]

What a beautiful book! Does anyone know where I can get one in the UK?

Great site btw, it's grea to find more people who share my passion for Bibles!

[Kyriaki]

Hi, I came across this while looking for photos to show a friend.

I've got the not-pocket version - well I will at Christmas time. It's cloth bound with a sky blue cover and worth getting your hands on if you can. I'm not sure how much more detail it would have in it - this pocket version still seems to have the pictures etc, but it's really gorgeous.

I like the big version because it's got a decent sized font and is readable even with tired eyes, and the line drawings are awesome. It's set up for liturgical use as said above, and has the different reading schedules in the back. It stays open quite happily too, which I like, because I don't want to constantly have to hold a book open while praying since we bow and cross ourselves pretty often in prayer so my prayer books are usually open on the table in the place where I pray.

The coolest thing I think is that it's set up like a traditional Psalter - with all the images and borders in monochrome. We tend towards just the text these days and a nice cover with religious books, but until recent time these images and borders were common because religious books are special. They also traditionally had elaborate covers, and I'm going to do something about making a cover to slip on mine...

[Kevin P. Edgecomb]

Kyriaki and others,
The larger edition includes an extensive introduction which wasn't included in the pocket edition, mostly describing the role of the Psalter as THE prayer book of Christians for centuries. The reading schedules are included in the back of both editions.

All the books that HTM share a similar aesthetic, with the line drawings and the borders at section breaks. The quality of paper and binding are intended for regular and long-lasting use. I have an older copy (bought used) of the HTM edition of St Isaac of Nineveh's Ascetical Homilies, and although it's obviously seen a whole lot of devoted use, the binding is still perfect: not too tight, not too loose, and this immense book lies flat open without weights on the pages. Now THAT's some good binding!

[Devin]

I'm beginning to use this for morning prayer.

http://www.andrewespress.com/dunstan.html

[Russ Stutler]

Devin, I would love to hear your impressions of the Saint Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter. I have ordered a copy but it has not yet arrived. I had been searching for a source of plainsong chants of the 1662 BCP Psalter, and was excited to discover this book on the web. Before the book arrives, I'm studying up on how to read that style of music notation so I can use it from day one.

[Russ Stutler]

Okay, my copy of St. Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter arrived this morning and I have spent some time with it. This is one fantastic book! Pointed Psalms for chanting with the musical notation at the top of each page. My week of preliminary study of neumes paid off; I could jump right in and start chanting these Psalms as soon as I opened the book, and it is such a rewarding experience.

The text of the Psalms is basically that of the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer which makes it practically identical to the 166s Book of Common Prayer.

The book is hardly pocket size at 6 1/4 X 9 1/4 inches with over 500 pages, but only the first half contains the Psalter and the second half is made up of canticles and various elements of morning and evening prayer. I would love to see a pocket version of this with only the Psalms.

[Russ Stutler]

The original post was 2 years ago, and I supposed you have gotten all your psalter questions answered a long time ago. But just in case, here is a link to my article that includes descriptions of several psalters out there:

http://www.stutler.cc/russ/sing_psalms.html

[bill]

Just discovered a very nice TNIV setting of the Psalter...the International Bible Society's "The Book of Psalms" Biblica #3700 & 3701. There are no verse numbers, with a single-column layout where each psalm starts a new page. (Ps 119 is broken down in sections by the Hebrew acrostic letters.) Clean, neat, attractive.

Check this out: the right-hand pages are left-justified, and the LH pages are right-justified...the effect is stunning, not gimmicky at all. There are colored design flourishes in the background (the poetically-correct line layout leaves a lot of "white space") and each psalm number at the top of the page is a stylized rendering, somewhat reminiscent of the "initials" in old illustrated manuscripts, but in sort of a 1970's retro style, although the copyright date is 2006.

The design team is onedeepwell.com if you want to look up some of their other work, which appears to be largely supported by IBS and concentrated in the years 2005-2007. Trust me, even if your tastes are quite traditional, you're gonna' like this layout. (Full disclosure: I'm a sucker for illustrated Bibles.) The font is one where half the letters have serifs and the other half don't but I hesitate calling it the "TNIV font" because it is a bit darker/bolder, which I highly welcome. It's a point or so larger than The Books of the Bible, so overall it's highly readable, which would be expected in its 5x9x5/8 inch size. The paper is incredibly thick, mostly in a cream color, but with ~15% of the pages colored in various other shades, which surprisingly doesn't hinder readability, with a couple exceptions such as Ps 111 which is set with white font on a taupe paper. Hate to sound picky, but there's also no effort made to match the page color with the tone of the page's content, so "happy psalm 96" in white font on very dark grey paper just doesn't feel right, even if it's perfectly visible.

The only real negative is the binding. The cover is less substantial than a dimestore paperback, although some polyurethane varnish xor carnauba wax should help that, and the binding itself is the dreaded perfect bind, which, with this heavy of paper, will probably be falling apart in a few years. But at the current price of $0.75, you can afford to get some spares.

Others have commented here that when IBS puts things on deep discount, it's an omen the product is being discontinued. If so, that's really too bad; this is a setting that just begs to be picked up and read. So get 'em while you can.

[H Jim]

Echoing Jacob's comments of two years ago, Artscroll's atistry and craftsmanship, from what I've seen, puts most Protestant publishers to shame. I've not seen them in person, but they're Yerushalayim leather editions look just beautiful in the catalogue and on-line, and I think I'm going to pick up one of their Yerushalayim leather Psalters. Take, for example, this interlinear Psalter: http://www.artscroll.com/Books/iteplt.html . The leather looks beautiful, and the layout is nice. Anyone wanting to learn Hebrew, Jewish or Christian, would do well to pray through the Psalms using this nice little tool.

[bill]

Nice find, H Jim. If you click on the Maroon Leather link, you can see some sample pages as well.

[Chase Becker]

Here's one of the psalters I like to use: http://amzn.com/0929650778

The translation was done by ICEL in the mid-90s, and was unfortunately rejected by the Vatican for official liturgical use.

The translation is very fresh and beautiful. The book itself is also very well done in terms of both layout and artwork.