8vo. [4], 328pp, [16]. Finely bound, for the Chapel Royal, St James's, in contemporary gilt- tooled crimson morocco, with crowned corner ornaments and an elaborate supra-libros to the centre of each board containing the cypher of King George III flanked by cherubs with trumpets, above the words 'CHAPEL ROYAL/ST JAMES'S'. A.E.G., marbled endpapers, red-ruled throughout. A fine copy, but for the slightest of rubbing to spine, some occasional browning to text.

A choice copy of the first edition of Thomas Pearce's compilation of anthems used in the Royal Chapels, bound for the Chapel Royal, St. James's, otherwise known as The Queen's Chapel, designed by Inigo Jones and built between 1623-5.

Originally intended for use by the Catholic Infanta Maria Anna of Spain after her proposed marriage to Prince Charles, the chapel was instead used by Queen Henrietta Maria, and later hosted Charles I's final communion on the morning of his execution.

Previous editions of this work, a collection of sacred anthems by Croft, Greene, Gibbons, Purcell, Tallis and others, were edited by Anselm Bayly (1719-1794), who preceded Thomas Pearce as Sub-Dean of the Chapels Royal. The chapels were regularly supplied with newly-bound Bibles and devotional texts for the use of the Royal household; when new editions or newly-bound copies were introduced, older copies were distributed to the members of the Ecclesiastical Household as a perquisite of office. As such, whilst similar examples are to be found in collections - indeed, a similar binding with comparable corner ornaments is found on the 1749 edition of Anthems for the Chapel Royal in the Henry Davis Collection (Foot, Henry Davis Catalogue, II, no. 167) - they are rarely preserved in such condition as here.