The Sacred Harp was first published by Benjamin Franklin White and Elisha J. King in 1844 and went permanently out of print following the death of B. F. White in 1879. By 1902 the supply of Sacred Harp songbooks was critically low and W. M. Cooper met the need with his revision of the 4th edition, bringing it out in that year. The most common nationwide nickname for this book is "Cooper Book." This book has remained in print ever since; and each time the Cooper Book has gone through a revision, the revision was done by a committee in the same manner that B. F. White had done his revisions. The pride of this direct connection with the 1844 book is evident in the title. A number of singings use this book in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas.
The songs in the Cooper Book are a cappella, 4-part polyphonic pieces written using shape note notation. The term Shape Note music is often used to refer to this style.
Many of the songs within its pages were written by the great colonial American tunesmiths, including William Billings and Daniel Read.
Others songs date from the mid-1800's—a period in which four-part shape note music was predominant at camp-meetings and revivals in the South and Southeast. Composers such as E. J. King, J. P. Rees, William Walker, and B. F. White typify the style of this time period.
In the early 1900's after W. M. Cooper first published his revision, songs were added that were written by composers like T. J. Allen, D. J. Givens, and John W. Miller.
The book was extensively revised and updated in 1992 as a result of the work of the music committee of the Sacred Harp Book company, led by Stanley Smith of Alabama. The new book includes 36 new songs, including a few by modern composers such as Stanley Smith, R. L. Vaughn, and Morris Nowlin.
In 2006 the book went through a much more extensive revision. This time 14 new tunes were added, including one tune each from the following composers: David Lee, and Clark Lee. Also 168 tunes were retypeset with a cleaner print and with additional verses in some cases. Many other modern composers continue to write in the Sacred Harp style.
The Cooper Book may be ordered from the Sacred Harp Book Company, Bill Aplin, Secretary/Treasurer, 200 S. Johnson St., Samson, AL 36477. For current pricing information, please visit Warren Steel's Sacred Harp Resources page.