The Psalms. MERRICK (James).

The Psalms, Translated or Paraphrased in English Verse. The Second Edition.

12mo. [174 x 105 x 26 mm]. x, 325, [13] pp. Bound in contemporary sprinkled calf, the spine divided into six panels with raised bands flanked by gilt double fillets, lettered in the second panel on a red goatskin label, the others with a lozenge-shaped centre tool, plain endleaves, lightly sprinkled edges. (Corners slightly bumped).
Reading: printed and sold by J. Carnan and Co. Sold also by Mr. Newbery, and Mr. Dodsley in London, and by Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Prince in Oxford, 1766

Small hole at blank foot of pp.11/12. A little light spotting or foxing. A very good copy.

A reissue, with a new title-page, of the first 12mo Reading edition. It was first published in quarto in Reading in 1765, most probably with the intention of appealing to a different audience "from the nonconformists who were singing Isaac Watts's The Psalms of David of 1719" (ODNB). Merrick's verse translation, in which he was aided by the scholar Robert Lowth, was much admired in the 18th century and went on to be published in Salisbury, London and Oxford.

Stock no. ebc6725