The Westminster Shorter Catechism—PCUS Editions

The PCA Historical Center has a small collection of these Catechisms, shown below with specific details for each edition.

Note: S.W. Carruthers lists some fifteen different editions or printings of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, published by the Presbyterian Church in the United States, aka, the Southern Presbyterian Church [1861-1983]. WorldCat has entries for at least nine or ten distinct editions.

Many of these printings bear no publication date and the cover title misleads the unsuspecting public into thinking that the copy in their hands was actually published in 1861. However, the publisher's location, including street address, is typically provided and this information gives some range of dating for each of the various editions. One careful librarian has established that the Presbyterian Committee of Publication was located at 1001 Main Street in Richmond up until the time that their building was sold in 1903. Thereafter, city directories for Richmond give the agency's street address as 212-214 North Sixth Street in the years 1905-1914. Then, from 1915 on, the PCP address is listed as 6-8 North Sixth Street.

Additional evidence for the dating of these editions can be gleaned from the advertisements found in some of them.
In the one copy below dated circa 1905-1914, the advertised publications are at least consistent with that span date:

  • Stout's Map of Palestine. [1881-1920's]
  • The Earnest Worker - monthly for teachers and senior scholars. 60 cents per year. [1871-1960's?]
  • The Children's Friend - weekly story paper. 50 cents per years. [1862-1915]
  • Pearls for the Little Ones - weekly illustrated paper [1893-?]
  • Onward. Illustrated story paper for elder scholars. 75 cents per years. [1907-1963]

 
pcus1862
 1862-1870
[Accession #014a128000]

THE | WESTMINSTER | Shorter Catechism, | RATIFIED BY THE | GENERAL ASSEMBLY | OF THE | PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH | IN THE | UNITED STATES, | AT AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, DECEMBER 4, 1861. | RICHMOND: | PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION.

Rose-colored paper wrapper with bold single-lined border and intertwined scroll work. Cover pages 2 and 3 are blank.
On cover page 4 (the back cover), the address for the Presbyterian Committee of Publication is given simply as "Main Street, Richmond, Va."

32 p., 11.3 cm. h. x 7.4 cm. w., string-bound.

Additional materials: The Lord’s Prayer; Child’s Morning Prayer in Verse; Child’s Evening Prayer in Verse; The Ten Commandments; The Creed. Similar to Carruthers A173, but with a different set of additional materials.
1873
[Accession # 005a067000]

THE | Shorter Catechism | OF THE | WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY, | WITH | Proofs from the Scriptures | IN WORDS AT LENGTH. | RICHMOND: | PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. | 1873.

Rose-colored paper cover with double-lined border. Blank inside cover pages (cover pages 2 and 3).
36 pp.; 14.2 cm.

Additional material: The Creed (p. 36) and advertisements for The Children's Friend [1862ff.] and The Earnest Worker [1871ff.] on the back cover.

S.W. Carruthers assigns #A187 in his bibliography, with a date of 1877, but does not have this printing date.
pcus1873
A226

Circa 1905-1914
[Accession #010a093000]

The Westminster | Shorter Catechism | Ratified by the | General Assembly of the | Presbyterian Church | in the United States | At | Augusta, Ga., December | 4th, 1861 | RICHMOND, VA.: | PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION | 212-214 NORTH SIXTH ST.

Blue paper cover with single lined border.
32 pp.; 13.7 x 8.7 cm.

Additional material: Sabbath-School Equipment (cover page 2); Brief history of the Catechism on verse of title page; the Ten Commandments; the New Commandment; the Beatitudes; the Creed; the Names and Order of the Books of the Bible; the Lord's Prayer; Hymn: The Love of Jesus; Our Sabbath School Periodicals (cover page 3); Our Catechetical Publications (cover page 4)

In his bibliography in Three Centuries of the Shorter Catechism, S.W. Carruthers assigns #A226 to what appears to be this same edition.