psalmbooks

A psalmbook is a printed collection of the biblical Psalms arranged for congregational singing. In many Christian traditions they function as hymnals focused on the Psalms, and they often include metrical translations, musical notation for tunes, and sometimes accompaniment. The term psalmbook is often used interchangeably with psalter or psalms and hymns book.

Historically, psalmbooks emerged in the Reformation era as vernacular alternatives to Latin liturgical chant, intended to enable lay participation in worship. They typically present psalms in a metrical form suitable for singing and pair them with tunes or musical meters, such as Common Meter or Long Meter. The most famous early examples include colonial American and British editions such as the Bay Psalm Book (1640), along with later English, Scottish, Dutch, and North American editions that circulated for centuries.

Contents and features vary, but most psalmbooks organize material by psalm number, provide meter and rhyme information, and list tunes or musical settings. Some editions include marginal glosses, headings for liturgical use, and guidance for congregational singing; others are paired with separate hymnals or cantional collections.

In modern worship, psalmbooks have largely been supplanted by broader hymnals, but many denominations retain psalmbooks or metrical psalters for special use or for congregational singing in a traditional style. They are studied as historical sources for the practice of psalmody and for the evolution of English-language metrical poetry and musical notation.