Sacred Songs and Solos was first published in 1877. The various editions that followed contained hundreds of the most popular Christian songs of the day, compiled and arranged by the so-called “Sweet Singer of Methodism,” Ira Sankey (1840–1909). Sankey teamed up with the preacher Dwight L. Moody and the pair traveled across the United States and abroad together singing and preaching at camp meetings and revivals. Sankey wrote several hymns and songs and composed and arranged music for many more. His “sacred song” collections, published by Biglow & Main Co. in the US and Morgan & Scott in the UK, were by far his most enduring works, many of which are still in use today.