It was only when this Gaelic translation of the Psalms of David appeared in 1659 that speakers of Scottish Gaelic were able to read a part of the Bible in their own language. Although dating from 1659, this was only the third Gaelic book ever printed.
The book has its origins in 1653, when the Synod of Argyll proposed to translate the Psalms into Gaelic metre. The work was allocated to various ministers, and when the first fifty Psalms were completed in May 1659 the Synod ordered their use and arranged for them to be published in this book. (The complete Psalms were not printed until 1694.) The only two Gaelic books to be produced before this one were the translation of John Knox's Liturgy by Bishop Carswell (1567) and a translation of Calvin's Catechism (1631).
An ceud chaogad do Shalmaibh Dhaibhidh. Glasgow, 1659. Ferg.7
150mm
