The first book printed in America was not the Bible, since English law required that all Bibles be printed in England. But the first American book was Bible-related—it was The Whole Book of Psalms Faithfully Translated into English Metre. Since it was printed in the Massachusetts Bay colony, it became known as the Bay Psalm Book (certainly easier to say).
Several ministers had made the translation of the Psalms into English rhyme. Stephen Day printed the book in 1640, and the book was so well liked that Day was given three hundred acres of land in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for “being the first that set upon printing.”
The New England Puritans did not approve of singing any hymns except the words of the Bible, and the Bay Psalm Book qualified. Its verses were not only read but also sung, so it was America’s first book and its first hymnal.
