A Compilation of the litanies and vespers hymns and anthems as they are sung in the Catholic Church adapted to the voice or organ
By: By Iohn Aitken[.]
Series: Early American imprints -- no. 20186
Publisher: Published by John Aitken
Published: 1788
Place of publication: Philadelphia
Language: eng
Number of pages: 136
Subjects: Prayers and devotions; Hymns; Catholic Church
Notes: The first collection of Catholic church music published in America.

All pages engraved except table of contents, at the top of which is the certificate of registration, describing the book in quarto and signed by James Biddle, Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, April 8th, 1788.

John Aitken worked as a printer, music publisher, silversmith and bookseller in Philadelphia, 1784-1824. Evans, who locates no copy and gives no collation, presumably took his description from a printed title page or an advertisement. He supplies the imprint: Philadelphia: Printed for Thomas Dobson, in Second Street, between Market and Chestnut Streets, 1787. Another edition, which varies slightly in title and which is engraved in the same design, has imprint: Philadelphia, Printed and sold by John Aitken 1791.

Odd numbered pages on versos.

Leaf tipped in after title is a recommendation printed in English and German, signed by Rev. John Carroll and three others, and dated November 28, 1787.

Evans 20186

Parsons, W. Catholic Americana, 62