Hymns Ancient and Modern

Hymn singing By 1830 the regular singing of hymns in the dissenting churches (outside the Church of England) had become widely accepted due to hymn writers like Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley and others. In the Church of England hymn singing was not an integral part of Orders of Service until the early 19th century, and hymns, as opposed to metrical psalms, were not officially sanctioned. From about 1800, parish churches started to use different hymn collections in informal services, like the Lock Hospital Collection (1769) by Martin Madan, the Olney Hymns (1779) by John Newton and William Cowper and A Collection of Hymns for the Use of The People Called Methodists (1779) by John Wesley and Charles Wesley. Oxford Movement A further impetus to hymn singing in the Anglican Church came in the 1830s from the Oxford Movement, led by John Keble and John Henry Newman. John Mason Neale, Thomas Helmore, Edward Caswall, Jane Laurie Borthwick and Catherine Winkworth. Besides stimulating the translation of medieval hymns, and use of plainsong melodies, the Oxford Reformers, inspired by Reginald Heber's work, also began to write original hymns. William Chatterton Dix and Folliott Sandford Pierpoint. The sheer number of these collections prevented any one of them from being successful. The idea for the hymn-book arose in 1858 when two clergymen, both part of the Oxford Movement, met on a train: William Denton of St Bartholomew, Cripplegate, co-editor of the Church Hymnal (1853) and Francis Henry Murray, editor of the Hymnal for Use in the English Church by George Cosby White should be amalgamated to satisfy the need for standardisation of the hymn books in use throughout England. Besides their idea, Henry Williams Baker and Rev. P. Ward were already engaged on a similar scheme for rival books. Given the lack of unanimity in the church's use of hymns, Baker thought it necessary to compile a single book which would command general confidence. In October of that year an advertisement in The Guardian, the High Church newspaper, invited co-operation, and over 200 clergymen responded. Another intention of the founders of Hymns Ancient and Modern was that it would improve congregational worship for everybody. A specimen was issued in May 1859. Sources included: • the translations from Latin by John Mason Neale in his Hymnal Noted (Novello, Ewer and Company, 1851) and the Accompanying Harmonies to The Hymnal Noted, together with Thomas Helmore, (1852), the Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (first edition 1851), and the Hymns of the Eastern Church, translated with Notes and an Introduction (1870, first edition appeared in 1865) • the translations from Latin by Edward Caswall in his Lyra Catholica: Containing All the Hymns of the Roman Breviary and Missal (1851) • the translations from German by Catherine Winkworth in her Lyra Germanica, Hymns for the Sundays and chief festivals of the Christian Year, Translated from the German (1855 edition) • the translations from German by Jane Laurie Borthwick in her Hymns from the land of Luther: translated from the German (first edition in 1853) • the churchly hymns from the Oxford Movement. In the Preface of the 1861 edition of the Hymns Ancient and Modern John Keble's The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and holidays throughout the year, 1837 (first edition appeared in 1827) was mentioned explicitly. • the hymns from the evangelical stream (dissenters and Methodists); composers included the clergy William Hiley Bathurst, Horatius Bonar, Henry Francis Lyte, John Henry Newman, and lay persons like Sarah Flower Adams, Cecil Frances Alexander, William Henry Havergal, Frances Ridley Havergal and Jane Eliza Leeson. In the Preface of the 1861 edition of the Hymns Ancient and Modern William Henry Havergal's Old Church Psalmody, (1849) was mentioned explicitly. Henry Williams Baker wrote and translated many of the hymns which it contains, and his ability, his profound knowledge of hymnology, and his energetic discharge of the duties of chairman of its committee for twenty years, mainly contributed to its success. The Hymns Ancient and Modern was austere in style and conformed to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. by 2024 nearly 200 million As such, it set the standard for many later hymnals like The English Hymnal which first appeared in 1906 and was succeeded by The New English Hymnal in 1986. ==Editions==

Early editions The first edition, musically supervised by William Henry Monk, was published in 1861 by Novello & Co, with 273 hymns. They also published the 1868 Appendix; but following negotiations, the whole publishing project was placed in the hands of William Clowes and Son later that year. It was revised in 1875 by Monk to produce the second edition, to which Charles Steggall added several supplementary hymns in 1889. In 1904 a "new and revised edition" was published, edited by Bertram Luard-Selby. After many complaints about the difference between this and its predecessors, Charles Steggall's edition was republished in 1906 as the "Complete edition". Standard edition In 1916 the "old complete edition" was republished for the last time, with a second supplement by Sydney Nicholson. In 1922, the "standard edition" was published, more strongly based on the "old complete edition" than the less popular "new and revised edition". This also was edited by Nicholson, who was the musical editor until he died in 1947. Revised edition . In 1950 the "revised edition" was published, with G. H. Knight and J. Dykes Bower having both edited since the death of Nicholson. Many hymns were weeded out from the 1950 edition as the editors wished to make space for more recent compositions and to thin out the over-supplemented previous versions. Bower was organist at St. Paul's Cathedral, whilst Knight held the same post at Canterbury. New Standard Edition In 1975 the proprietors formed a limited company and a registered charity, and in 1983 published the "New Standard Edition". This consisted of 333 of the 636 hymns included in A and M Revised (AMR) and the entire 200-hymn contents of 100 Hymns for Today (HHT, 1969) and More Hymns for Today (MHT, 1980). Common Praise In 2000 Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd, through its subsidiary the Canterbury Press, published a new hymnal, this time called Common Praise. This was printed by William Clowes Ltd. of Suffolk. Sing Praise In September 2010 Canterbury Press and the Royal School of Church Music published Sing Praise, subtitled "Hymns and Songs for Refreshing Worship", containing 330 recently written hymn, song and short chant compositions. The selection was designed to complement Common Praise in particular, but also other hymn books in current use. Ancient and Modern In March 2013 Canterbury Press published Ancient and Modern, so reverting to the original title without the word "Hymns", but also subtitled Hymns and Songs for Refreshing Worship, a new edition designed for contemporary patterns of worship. It contains 847 items, including some items from Common Praise and Sing Praise, ranging from psalm settings to John L. Bell, Bernadette Farrell, Stuart Townend and others. In 2014 the British organist John Keys completed recordings of organ accompaniments of all the hymns in the book. ==Publisher==

In 1989 Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd. bought the Church Times, the Church of England's periodical, and bought SCM Press in 1997. Other imprints include Canterbury Press. In 2007 it became the distributor for St Andrew Press, the Church of Scotland's publishing house. ==Japanese edition==

The Japanese edition of Hymns Ancient Modern, called was published in 1902 by the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (NSKK), with the subsequent several revisions. It was used until 2006, when it was replaced by NSKK Hymnal (). ==See also==