Henry S. Coffin text-writing in utero and even pre-conception?

Wed, 03/13/2013 - 13:54 — Haruo

There are eleven instances of "The day is past and gone" showing Henry S. Coffin as an author (always together with co-author (or translator) William John Blew, who actually wrote it); the earliest dates from 1874, three years before Coffin was born. I have removed Coffin from the four instances that have page scans (HSPP1874, CS1885, CS1886, and SoP1886) but have left him in the seven that lack such evidence. If anyone has access to those seven hymnals, let me know if he's in any of them, please. (It is after all conceivable that there was an earlier Henry S. Coffin than the one born in 1877, who was the father of the one who was famous in my youth for his antiwar activities at Yale.)

Comments

Fri, 03/15/2013 - 11:24 — Haruo

Nearly as precocious

Nearly as precocious was John Mason Neale, who is credited with at least one instance published in 1810, and one in 1816, though he was not born until 1818. Incidentally, is anyone working on Neale and Helmore's 1851 Hymnal Noted? I don't see it listed on the Wiki page of who's up to what, but then that page is rarely updated it seems. I see Lulu has a reprint available for $20, and I think maybe I'll give it a go.