Hymns Ancient and Modern was a
hymnalHymnal or hymnbook is a collection of hymns, i.e. religious songs, usually in the form of a book. The earliest hand-written hymnals are known since Middle Ages in the context of European Christianity...
in common use within the
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches...
. Over the years it has grown into a large family of hymnals.
The idea for the hymn book first came about in 1858 when two clergymen met on a train. They discussed the need for a standardization of the hymn books in use throughout England and so the idea was born. They founded a board, called the
Proprietors, who oversaw both the publication of the hymnal and the donation of the profits to appropriate charities, or to subsidise less wealthy parishes for the cost of the books.
The first edition was published in 1861 by
W.M. Clowes and SonsWilliam Clowes Ltd. is a British printing company founded in London in 1803 by William Clowes. It grew from a small, one press firm to one of the world's largest printing companies in the mid-1800s. It continues to operate out of its large printing factory near Beccles, Suffolk.-History:Clowes...
, with an appendix added in 1868.
Hymns Ancient and Modern was a
hymnalHymnal or hymnbook is a collection of hymns, i.e. religious songs, usually in the form of a book. The earliest hand-written hymnals are known since Middle Ages in the context of European Christianity...
in common use within the
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches...
. Over the years it has grown into a large family of hymnals.
The idea for the hymn book first came about in 1858 when two clergymen met on a train. They discussed the need for a standardization of the hymn books in use throughout England and so the idea was born. They founded a board, called the
Proprietors, who oversaw both the publication of the hymnal and the donation of the profits to appropriate charities, or to subsidise less wealthy parishes for the cost of the books.
The first edition was published in 1861 by
W.M. Clowes and SonsWilliam Clowes Ltd. is a British printing company founded in London in 1803 by William Clowes. It grew from a small, one press firm to one of the world's largest printing companies in the mid-1800s. It continues to operate out of its large printing factory near Beccles, Suffolk.-History:Clowes...
, with an appendix added in 1868. It was revised in 1875 by
William Henry MonkProbably better known in his day as an organist, church musician, and music editor, William Henry Monk composed a fair number of popular hymn tunes, including one of the most famous from nineteenth century England, "Eventide", used for the hymn Abide with Me...
to produce the
second edition to which, fourteen years later in 1889,
Charles SteggallCharles H. Steggall was a British hymn writer and composer.-Early life:The son of R. W. Steggall, Charles Steggall was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and then studied under William Sterndale Bennett at the Royal Academy of Music, where he subsequently became Professor of organ and...
added several supplementary hymns. In 1904 the
new and revised edition was published, edited by B. Luard. Unfortunately people complained about the difference between this and its predecessors to such an extent that, in 1906, C. Steggall's edition was republished as the
old complete edition.
In 1916 the
old complete edition was republished for the last time with a second supplement by
Sydney NicholsonSir Sydney Hugo Nicholson was an English choir director, organist and composer, now chiefly remembered as the founder of the Royal School of Church Music . He was born in London and educated at Rugby School, New College, Oxford and the Royal College of Music...
. Six years later, in 1922, the
standard edition was published, more strongly based on the
old complete edition than the less popular
new and revised edition. This also was edited by Nicholson, who was the musical editor until he died in 1947.
In 1950 the
revised edition was published, with G.H. Knight and J. Dykes having both edited since the death of Nicholson. Many hymns were weeded out for the 1950 edition as the editors wished to make space for more recent compositions and to thin out the over-supplemented previous versions.
In 1975 the Proprietors formed a
limited companyA limited company in the United Kingdom or Ireland is a corporation whose liability is limited by shares , which is the most common form of privately held company. Its equivalent in Australia is Proprietary company...
and a registered charity, and in 1983 published the
New Standard edition; this comprised 333 of the 636 hymns included in
A and M Revised and the entire 200-hymn contents of
100 Hymns for Today (1969) and
More Hymns for Today (1980).
In 2000 Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd, through its subsidiary, the Canterbury Press, published a new hymnal called
Common Praise