Martin Luther viewed the Book of Psalms as a sort of mini-Bible that held all of the lessons that a Christian needed to know. This edition of the Psalms, published in Philadelphia in 1848, has its boards covered in a hand-printed patterned paper that was likely used for other decorative purposes. Other copies of this same edition currently for sale have boards covered in paper with different patterns, perhaps indicating that the binders were also in the business of printing decorative paper and just used whatever they had on hand.