The first book published in what is now the USA was a Puritan hymnal called The Bay Psalm Book. Published in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1640 by Stephen Daye, The Bay Psalm Book was a collection of holy songs translated from the Old Testament’s Hebrew into English. Because the printers were not trained typographers, the book is rife with typos, plagued with spacing errors, and crudely laid out over its 37 sheets. Here are 10 surprising facts about The Bay Psalm Book.In the late 1630s, Reverend Joseph Glover decided to move from Sutton (in London, England) to the Massachusetts Bay Colony with his wife Elizabeth Harris Glover. Joseph and Elizabeth desired the greater religious freedom that Massachusetts Bay would provide. To prepare for this move, Joseph gave sermons to raise money and, with that capital, he bought type so that he could start a printing press. Printing presses were large, expensive machines that required multiple parts to run. Furthermore, establishing a printing shop required considerable resources, including type, ink, galleys, tables, frames, and paper, all of which had to be brought from England. In addition to the money he raised from his parishioners, Joseph raised £49 for his printing house from seven of his friends in England and Holland: Major Thomas Clarke, Captain James Oliver, Captain Allen, Captain Lake, Mr. Stoddard, Mr. Freake, and Mr. Hues. In addition to the money he collected from his supporters, Joseph kicked in £80 of his own money, supplying £20 for the press and £60 for paper and ink. On June 7, 1638 in London, Joseph Glover wrote up a contract with Stephen Daye, an indentured locksmith, making Daye the operator of the press. Joseph and Elizabeth left England with their children, their servants, Daye, his family, and three workers. This group, with a printing press, arrived in Massachusetts in the summer of 1638—minus one person. Joseph Glover never made it to the New World because he died of a fever at sea while en route to New England. Accordingly, Elizabeth established the printing press in the Cambridge, Massachusetts house of Henry Dunster, the first president of Harvard University. Although most scholars give Daye, who was 44 years old in 1638, the credit for being America’s first publisher, they can only speculate on his exact duties and responsibilities at the Cambridge Press. We lack concrete facts about Daye, and some historians argue that no proof of him being an apprentice to a London printer exists. Nevertheless, publisher and author Isiah Thomas (1749–1831) mentions that Daye was an apprentice to a London printer. If Daye was indeed a locksmith and lacked knowledge of typography, then perhaps Joseph could not afford to hire any skilled typographers or could not find any who would move to New England from London. The Bay Psalm Book sets the record for the most expensive English language book ever sold. Back in 1947.