All the facsimile pdfs of books from the gallery-music period listed below may be purchased directly from this site using PayPal. On payment of the fee listed, you will be emailed a password and website address which will give you access to the pdf file(s).

The price of each facsimile pdf is based on a cost of 5p per page for A5 facsimiles, 6p per page for B5 facsimiles and 7p per page for A4 facsimiles. For EU citizens, VAT at the prevailing UK rate (currently 17.5%) has to be added to the final fee (electronic files, unlike printed books, are not zero-rated for VAT). All prices are in GB pounds.

Before ordering, note that each download is several MB in size (however, all are under 10 MB).

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WILLIAM TANS'UR -- NEW! (June 2005)

William Tans'ur could be described as one of the most ubiquitous and influential characters in the gallery-music world. Both facsimiles below, as well as being excellent examples of his work, feature portraits on Tans'ur seated at table, quill pen in hand, working on his music.

The Melody of the Heart: or, The Psalmist's Pocket-Companion

(1737 edition)

On the title page Tans'ur describes the book's contents as follows:

I. The New Version of the Psalms of David New Tun'd ... To which is added, Compendious Instructions on the Grounds of Musick, etc.
II. A New and Select Number of Divine Hymns, and Easy Anthems ... The Whole is Composed in Two, Three, and Four Musical Parts ... (set down in Score)

In all, the book contains 8 pages of 'Compendious Instructions' and 80 pages of typeset music, with 30 psalm tunes, 8 hymns and 6 anthems.

Price: 4.90 GBP + VAT -- A5 landscape, viii+8+80 pages

A Compleat Melody: or, The Harmony of Sion

(1743 edition)

The 'New Introduction to the Grounds of Music' provides 72 pages of detailed delight, with Tans'ur dealing with the 'Art or Science' of music -- reading, performing, composing, and the nature of sound itself -- via a dialogue between Scholar and Master. The second and third parts of the book provide 152 pages of typeset music in two, three or four parts, printed in score: 59 psalm tunes, 12 hymns, and 23 anthems and canons.

Price: 12.10 GBP + VAT -- A5 landscape, xviii+72+152 pages

JAMES PECK -- NEW! (February 2005)

Peck's Collection of Hymn Tunes, Fugues and Odes (1799/1800)

According to Grove (1929), James Peck engraved and published great numbers of psalmodies and books of hymn tunes for the Wesleyan movement. Here are three of his books in facsimile, originally published in 1799 and 1800. The settings have three or four vocal parts with a figured bass.

Price: 5.55 GBP + VAT -- A5 landscape, iv+36+36+35 pages

THOMAS GREEN & CHRISTOPHER CLARK

Vocal Harmony Displayed in Psalmody (1745 edition)

Most researchers in this area are aware of frustrating gaps in material surviving to the present day. Just occasionally books come to light that fill these gaps -- as is the case with this publication. Its authors were previously known only from a few tunes republished by their contemporary, William East of Waltham, in 1748, and a tantalising reference in a Derby newspaper advertisement from 1755.

To quote the title page, the book contains:

I. A compleat Introduction to the Grounds of Music, wherein the several Moods of Time, used in Psalmody, are demonstrated by Pendulums; with Variety of the newest Methods of beating each Mood with the Hand or Foot, with many other Things commodious and necessary.

II. A new Composition of Music to Te Deum, Benedicte, Jubilate, Magnificat, and Nunc Dimittis, with Twenty-eight Psalm-Tunes, and Six most select Hymns, in Four Parts.

III. Eleven Anthems composed after the newest Methods, being intermixed with Variety of Modulation, Binding, Immitation, Fuges, double Descant, etc. [an unusually early example of this form of words]

Lastly, Three short Canons.

The whole Work intirely new (from near thirty Years Practice and Experience) and never before printed.

Transcriptions of some of the psalm tunes are availble in Sibelius Scorch format on the Gallery Music website.

Price: 8.00 GBP + VAT -- A5 portrait, iv+156 pages

MARTIN MADAN

Lock Hospital Collection (1809)

The famous collection of 'Psalm and Hymn Tunes Sung at the Chapel of the Lock Hospital' was first published under the editorship of Martin Madan in the 1760s in order to raise money for the institution. It was 'generally allowed by competent judges to contain a great variety of the finest specimens of Sacred Harmony that have ever been introduced into public worship', as the preface to the 1792 edition proclaims.

This facsimile is of the first American edition of the work, based on the 1792 London edition. Present-day singers of the Sacred Harp shape-note tradition will recognise several names in the list of subscribers.

This particular facsimile may be used as photocopiable masters for a choir seeking to expand its repertoire of eighteenth-century evangelical hymns and set-pieces. The excellent music (127 items, most in three parts) and the beautiful typesetting of this American edition combine to make a delightful resource.

Price: 14.00 GBP + VAT -- A4 landscape, 200 pages

J. M. COOMBS

Coombs's Divine Amusement

(c1819)

This collection of hymns, psalms and anthems (including 'Vital Spark' and other popular items from the Georgian psalmody repertoire) was 'composed and arranged with peculiar care' by J. M. Coombs, organist of Chippenham. According to Temperley's Hymn Tune Index, the earliest known printing of 16 tunes or new variants appear in this book.

Price: 4.20 GBP + VAT -- B5 portrait, 70 pages, 48 pieces

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WILLIAM GRESHAM

Psalmody Improved (1799 edition)

William Gresham's original intention in publishing his book was 'to facilitate and improve that delightful part of Public Worship – Singing Praises to our Creator and Redeemer'. His detailed introduction comments on performance practice and his proposed improvements. Two- and three-part canticles and psalm tunes follow, the latter with instrumental interludes (intended by Gresham for the organ) to 'give a respite to the Voices, between the Verses'. Words to selected psalms from Tate and Brady's version are printed opposite each hymn tune.

This facsimile has been produced from the second edition; just two tunes from the first, published in c1797, were replaced, otherwise the contents are the same. The second edition includes the earliest known printing of two tunes, and 10 tunes (or new variants) are continued from their first appearance in the first edition (Temperley, HTI, vol. 1, p. 248, under GresWPI a/b).

B5 landscape, 118 pages, 40+ items of music

ANONYMOUS

The Choristers Companion

(new series; 1825)

This collection of four-part anthems by art-music and psalmody composers such as Jarman, Kent, Handel and Bond will appeal to choir leaders wishing to expand their group's repertoire. It is organised as a twelve-part publication, with a bonus 8-page Christmas anthem by Thomas Jarman at the end.

B5 landscape, vi+152 pages, 22 anthems