A Descriptive Bibliography of British and Irish Editions of Isaac Watts’s Divine Songs (1715–ca. 1830)

Abstract

Isaac Watts’s Divine Songs, Attempted in Easy Language for the Use of Children (1715) represents a pivotal point in the history of children’s literature. This bibliography, a product of the author’s doctoral research, provides a detailed list of British and Irish issues of Divine Songs published between 1715, the year in which the first edition was issued, and ca. 1835. It takes advantage of contemporary research tools to update and revise earlier work by Wilbur Macey Stone (1918) and John Henry Pyle Pafford (1971) and significantly expands their bibliographies. In contrast to Stone’s and Pafford’s work, this bibliography offers more detailed descriptions. It is intended to be used on its own or as a reference list during library work.