English Hymnal 1906
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    The English Hymnal of 1906
    edited (with lots of new compositions and arrangements) by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

    The only online copy I have been able to find is this one:
    http://archive.org/details/theenglishhymnal00milfuoft

    However.... it is missing a bunch of pages, and several pages are duplicated.
    Frankly, it's a mess.

    I'm also aware of the project to digitize the entire hymal:
    http://ehymnal.wikispaces.com/

    But it's incomplete and VERY hard to navigate.


    Is anyone aware of another online source that has a scan of the entire book?

    Also- does anyone know where to purchase an original or high-quality reprint?
    Amazon is tough, because I can't tell if it's the actual 1906 English Hymnal, or just some other English Hymnal.

    There's a couple paperback reprints that look really sketchy (like this one with the ballet shoes cover), so I'm hesitant to go that route.

    I don't mind later editions, if they have THE SAME CONTENT (I don't know if that's the case or not). I am simply looking for a reliable and complete reference version of the entire Hymnal. The English Hymnal. The 1906 one. Complete.

    Any leads?

    (Yes... I have Googled.)
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    I mean, is this it?
    http://www.abebooks.com/English-Hymnal-Oxford-University-Press/1187028143/bd

    I've seen several "Words Only" editions for sale (which I do not want).
    Without a "Look Inside" feature, I can't really tell what's what.

    Also, I found several more online editions (like at the IMSLP), which are just referencing the incomplete copy from archive.org. This makes me further assume that most of the cheap-looking print-on-demand paperbacks (ballet shoes cover, for example) are likely also just churned out versions of that same pdf. (There's a whole cheap-chinese-knockoff market of poorly done POD reprints of classic literature- it's astounding, really).
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    I would be skeptical of a book "from 1906" with an ISBN. It would be a lot of work, but have you considered trying to find it in a local college or university library and scanning or copying it yourself? Goodness knows what condition those things are in.

    The WorldCat/OCLC number is 1931705.

    http://www.worldcat.org/title/english-hymnal-with-tunes/oclc/1931705&referer=brief_results
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Since you've googled, I'm sure you found it on IMSLP (though not the best scan quality)?
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    IMSLP's version is a copy of the same incomplete scan at archive.org
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    You could get best results by buying a copy; then you'd be free to have the scanners unbind the book and take high-resolution images of the pages on a flatbed scanner. JT can recommend a good scanning firm.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    Happy to buy one.
    Anyone know a reliable source?
    Or what it OUGHT to cost?
  • I could do a really good scan with my ScanSnap, but there's no way I'll unbind my English Hymnal. Love the beautiful green cover.

    Amazon.co.uk has two copies left for about $60 apiece. 38 pounds. Worth it, IMO.
    Thanked by 1IanW
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0192311115

    Is this right?
    It says 1933.
  • I've got a copy. Copyright page has this:

    The First Edition was issued in 1906
    A New Edition was first published in 1933
    Twenty fifth impression 1992

    There's a note (by some guy called Ralph Vaughan Williams) on page x that says the 1933 revision was "confined to the enrichment of the music. The hymns themselves remain as they were in 1906 except that, during subsequent years, in rare instances a few words have been altered at the request of authors...No tune found in the 1906 book has been omitted, but over a hundred tunes have been added. This has been made possible by (a) the removal of duplications and (b) the placing of certain tunes in an Appendix, and by filling such vacancies with new tunes....A new Preface has been written for the Plainsong tunes, all of which are now provided with new accompaniments."
    Thanked by 2DougS Adam Wood
  • RVW adds that the 2nd edition shouldn't affect congregations and that if the former tunes are desired, it's easy enough to find them because cross-references have been added. UK churchgoers historically have been more familiar with pairing a different tune to a known text than USA folks, partly thanks to the words and text being printed separately (or no music being provided, so they have to fit the tune they hear or remember to the words they see anyway).
    Thanked by 1IanW
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    Yea, I saw many listings for the 1933 edition and wondered if it was the same as the 1906 with just a few modifications here and there.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    But with the 1933 that means that at least some of the material (and the book as a whole) is still under copyright protection.
  • IanWIanW
    Posts: 756
    I have the 1933. I believe I bought it from the Student Christian Movement bookshop on the Euston road. I associate the music, words and particular shade of green of the cover with the best of Anglo-Catholicism (chunter ... pass the port).
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    I got a copy of the 1933 revision from the Mus. Lib. at Texas Christian.
    It really is an amazing hymnal.

    However, this...
    "...Plainsong tunes, all of which are now provided with new accompaniments."
    is, to me, somewhat unfortunate.

    The 1906 Plainsong accompaniments were 4-part, and (in my opinion) worked well as choral harmonies (they form the basis for my very-behind-schedule Flexible English Propers project). The 1933 Plainsong accompaniments are three-part and are much more static. I can tell they work better on the organ, supporting a more free flowing chant style- but I really liked the possibility of 4-part choral chant hymns provided by the 1906 arrangements.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    What's the problem with the "free flowing chant style?"
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,150
    The 4-part accompaniments/arrangements are a wonderful resource and provide a nice complement to the 3-part accompaniments. Both sets seem to reflect rather free flowing chant style to me that many later and modern accompaniments often seem to lack.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    There is no problem with a "free flowing chant style."
    I prefer chant unaccompanied.
    And when accompanied, you need a lighter tough and less movement than with (for example) a German Chorale tune.

    Which is my point...
    In order to make the accompaniments of the Plainsong hymns work better as accompaniments, they do not work as well as choral harmonies.

    I'll try to post some comparisons later on so you can see what I mean.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    In case anyone else is interested:
    This Distributed Proofreaders page seems to have the complete work, although not all together in a single PDF. But at least it is not missing any pages.

    http://www.pgdp.net/c/tools/project_manager/displayimage.php?project=projectID42bdfed61d611&imagefile=001.png&showreturnlink=1&preload=next&percent=100&jumpto=001.png
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen mrcopper
  • I am interested because I have that 1933 copy, but not in front of me. I love it. However, it seems to me it was brought under copyright, which became general in 1911, and I doubt seriously that OUP hands out its assets too easily. It holds tight to the fundamentalist, Dispensationalist Scofield Reference Bible. I think when this came up I even checked and it seemed to be under copyright. Certainly, OUP still sells it.

    FWIW.

    Kenneth
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    OUP claiming to have copyright, and OUP actually having copyright are two different things. The vast majority of the 1933 edition is identical to the 1906 edition, which is clearly in the public domain, at least in the US. The things that are new in the 1933 (plainchant accompaniments, for example) may be copyrighted, and the book as a whole unit also may be copyrighted.

    Anyone have more information?
  • True, the edit is copyrighted. So you want somebody with cash to fight OUP to scan it? Just being silly. Just bet there are lawyers lurking, so be careful.
  • The ehymnal wiki is no longer available! Apparently wiki sites started charging non education folks for their services, and the ehymnal project has not paid up. Does anyone know if their finished material is still available anywhere? I would be interested in all the files
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    Which files in particular?

    This is the original post:

    https://archive.org/details/theenglishhymnal00milfuoft
  • Some the most interesting music in the EH is contained only in the 1933 re-edit. BTW, the words editor, Percy Dearmer, made five or six minute changes in his own hymn texts. Some of those changes had already been made in Songs of Praise, a school assembly hymnal with Dearmer as editor, and Martin Shaw and RVW doing the music. Almost all of the music added in 1933 had already appeared in the two editions of Songs of Praise (1921 & 1928). But the original 1906 EH is a rather beautiful thing to look at. Our public library has had one on the shelves (but I think it was stolen). The pages are less cluttered because there are fewer (but still substantial) cross references for alternate tunes. Virtually every text with a plainsong tune has one, or more, "modern (not plainsong)" tune. Plainsong is only used with Offices Hymns, Sequences, and Proses (there are antiphons for the Holy Week Rites).

    It's a classic. The New English Hymnal, 1986, continued over 400 texts from the original book and has become the most widely used hymn book in the Church of England (where unfortunately, there are lots of ohp). A small number of (Episcopal and Anglican Church of Canada) use the NEH, which is also used in Australia and South Africa.

    The Hymnal 1982 uses more materials from The English Hymnal than any other American Hymnal.

    Songs of Praise has some fascinating music, and some very odd texts. Prepared for schools, and contains assembly songs... some are very nationalistic. With incredible music.

    And of course, Dearmer, RVW, and Martin Shaw were responsible for the Oxford Book of Carols (the new Oxford Book of Carols is less practical for congregational use). Some items are common to EH, SOP, and OBC.

    All of them worthy of a place on the bookshelf.

    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Dave
    Posts: 64
    The English Hymnal 1933 has been said to have better chant accompaniments than the initial 1906 edition. I own a copy of the former and it's a magnificent book. Yet, I still get a chuckle sometimes from the inclusion (presumably deleted in the NEH) of a Wagner melody from Parsifal.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    The English Hymnal 1933 has been said to have better chant accompaniments than the initial 1906 edition.


    The 1933 is who said this. They are better for organ accompaniment of chant, but I find the 1906 ones nice for choral singing.
  • The Parsifal melody for an Ascensiontide hymn didn't make the cut, but the Meistersinger Chorale is still there!
    Thanked by 2Dave CHGiffen
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,150
    What!! No Dresden Amen?
  • The Parsifal melody is in Songs of Syon with the Amen!
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen