The Psalter in Metre and Church Hymnary, was “prepared by a Committee consisting of representatives of the Church of Scotland, the Free Church of Scotland, the United Presbyterian Church, and the Presbyterian Church in Ireland,” and published by Henry Frowde in 1899. This is the 1909 edition.

The second half of the book is a standard hymnal, but the first half is cut so worshippers can mix and match texts and tunes. They’re given the choice of 221 tunes, and 222 texts in the same meter (all 150 psalms, 67 “paraphrases,” and 5 additional hymns).

The principle is the same as Raymond Queneau’s Hundred Thousand Billion Poems, in which the ten lines of ten poems can be rearranged, or the many children’s books that combine parts of animals. Here’s one example; here are two taken from an advertising booklet, Kellogg’s Funny Jungleland. The first is from the 1903 version, the second from 1932.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)