In what year was the hymnbook that Elisha J. King compiled first published?
Sacred Harp Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that originated in the American South of the United States. The name is derived from "The Sacred Harp," a ubiquitous and historically important tunebook printed in shape notes. The work was first published in 1844 and has reappeared in multiple editions ever since. Sacred Harp music represents one branch of an older tradition of American music that developed over the period 1770 to 1820 from roots in New England, with a significant, related development under the influence of "revival" services around the 1840s. This music was included in, and became profoundly associated with, books using the shape note style of notation popular in America in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
New Harp of Columbia The New Harp of Columbia is a seven-shape shape note tune book first published in 1867 in Knoxville, Tennessee by Marcus Lafayette Swan. A successor to "The Harp of Columbia" published by Swan and his father, W.H. Swan, in 1848, "The New Harp" includes a mixture of hymn tunes, folk hymns, fuguing pieces, and anthems, along with several of Swan's original compositions. The book maintains popularity in East Tennessee, with about 20 singings in 2004.