Bernard Braley: Hymnwriters 1

SKU: ST.B764

ISBN 9780852497647.

The second volume of the series includes Henry Baker, Albert Bayly, James Montgomery and John Newton.

Hymn lovers will wish to congratulate Bernard Braley on his successful production of Hymnwriters 2, the second volume of biographical material of distinguished authors of hymns. The dust jacket tells us that this book is first of all just to be enjoyed for the reading of it and without doubt much enjoyment is offered to the reader. The author has amassed a remarkable amount of detail concerning four hymnwriters, and, as in Hymnwriters 1, there is a main narrative section on each page with marginal columns and separate boxes for interesting references and quotations. (The Hymn Society Bulletin).

SKU: ST.B667

ISBN 9780852496671.

The first volume in a series telling in depth the life stories of some great hymnwriters. The stories can easily be turned into occasional performances of hymns with interspersed readings. There are numerous quotations helpful to this end. The volume covers Thomas Ken, Reginald Heber, John Ellerton and William Walsham How. The book is full of the unexpected and makes a delightful gift.

Quotations from hymns, letters and diaries, together with photographs, illustrate the text fully. This is a fascinating book, and those with a talent for dramatisation would find this an ideal starting-point for creating a play.

We have come to associate a special combination of lively style and meticulous research with the writings of Bernard Braley. In this first volume on hymnwriters we are not disappointed. (The Local Preachers' Magazine)

Mr Braley's biographical method is highly original - so far as I know unique - but carefully contrived to suite the nature of his subjects. His unorthodox method helps to make these men new to us, and powerfully to promote in us a sense of fellowship with them. (The Hymn Society Bulletin).

SKU: ST.B790

ISBN 9780852497906.

This volume covers the lives of George Herbert, the seventeenth century religious poet and parson; Edward Plumptre, the nineteenth century educationalist and theologian who became Dean of Wells Cathedral; Robert Bridges, medical man, precentor in a village church, Poet Laureate and eccentric; and Fred Pratt Green, who took up hymnwriting seriously at an age when many retire, and whose twentieth century hymns are now sung across the world.

Hymnwriters 3 has . . . . a classical and appropriate cover, featuring an organ and bench with portraits of hymnologists. Also the near-magazine format, featuring side-bars, boxed sections, photos and drawings and a number of different typefaces, make it a really top-class production. This also has impressive indices: Index of Persons, Index of Place Names, General Index and, lastly, Index of Tunes. Anybody interested in the hymnology/poetry of all the people covered in this finely produced book should add it to their library. (Librarians' Christian Fellowship Newsletter).