kolkata on 26 november 2013 sothebys new york will auction one of the finest surviving copies of the bay psalm book the first book printed in what is now the united states of america the present example of the bay psalm book from the old south churchs collection comes to auction at sothebys new york with a presale estimate of 1530 million the congregationalist puritans who emigrated to massachusetts bay in search of religious freedom quickly set about to translate and produce a version of the book of psalms that was a closer paraphrase of the hebrew original than the one they had carried from england the first edition of the resulting bay psalm book was printed in cambridge massachusetts in 1640 and sothebys will auction one of the 11 surviving copies in the dedicated auction the present example comes from the collection of the old south church in the heart of boston massachusetts one of two remarkable copies presently in its collection and the proceeds of the sale will benefit the churchs mission and ministry in the greater boston area no example of the bay psalm book has appeared at auction since 1947 when another copy achieved a record auction price for any printed book at the time many multiples of what other icons of printing achieved in that period including the gutenberg bible shakespeares first folio and audubons birds of america the book will be on view in sothebys york avenue galleries from 12 14 april before embarking on a traveling exhibition in cities such as philadelphia chicago los angeles and dallas in the coming months the book will return for exhibition in new york in advance of the auction beginning 18 november in the week preceding the thanksgiving holiday in the united states david redden director of special projects and worldwide chairman of sothebys books department commented in an email the bay psalm book was not only the first book printed in america and the first book written in america this little book of 1640 was precursor to lexington and concord and ultimately to american political independence with it new england declared its independence from the church of england mr redden continued the bay psalm book is a mythical rarity unseen on the marketplace for more than two generations it has become too rare to collect yet here it is today this modest little book printed in the american wilderness but embodying the values that created our nation political freedom and religious liberty nancy s taylor senior minister and ceo of old south church said with the sale of this extraordinary asset we intend to strengthen our ministries of mercy justice and beauty we hope to increase our grants and outreach programs as well as maintain our national historic landmark building open and free to the public seven days a week in excellent repair selby kiffer international senior specialist in sothebys special projects department commented of inestimable significance the bay