William Cullen Bryant, ca 1820

BRYANT, William Cullen (1794-1878). Autograph manuscript for two Hymns, [n.p., ca 1820].

Four pages, bifolium, 255 x 203mm (partial fold separations, singed spot with some ink erosion that does not affect text).

The original autograph manuscripts for two pieces of some Bryant's earliest poetry: two Hymns which appeared in in Henry D. Sewall's, A Collection of Psalms and Hymns in 1820 as numbers 29 and 129. The two hymns consist of six verses of four lines each and Bryant, in pencil, writes "motifs" of these hymns above each: "The Earth is full of Thy Riches" and "Praise for the Loving Kindness of our God." Although Bryant revised these hymns for later editions of Sewall's volume, the lines here match the original versions published in 1820.

[With:] BRYANT, William Cullen. Autograph letter signed ("W.C. Bryant") to Rev. Dr. John M. Krebs, Roslyn, Long Island, 8 December 1864. One page, bifolium, 203 x 126mm. Bryant writes that he is pleased that his "little collection of hymns is so favorably regarded. If any of them should, as you suggest, be found suitable for the new compilation which you an your associates are making, I shall think the better of them for being so distinguished."