Ten Voluntarys for the Organ or Harpsichord ... Opera Quinta [Sesta-Settima]

London: Printed for John Johnson at the Harp and Crown in Cheapside, 1745. 3 volumes. Oblong folio. Uniformly bound in 18th century style in modern half mid-tan mottled calf with marbled boards, spine with titling and rules gilt.

Vol. I: Opera Quinta
1f. (recto title, verso blank), [i] (blank), 2-38 pp. First Edition. BUC p. 974. RISM S4680 and SS4680.

Vol. II: Opera Sesta
1f. (recto title, verso blank), [i] (blank), 32 pp. First Edition. BUC p. 974. RISM S4685 (three copies in the U.S., at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; NYPL Lincoln Center; and the :Library of Congress.

Vol. III: Opera Settima
1f. (recto title, verso blank), 27, [i] (blank) pp. First Edition. BUC p. 974. RISM S4687 and SS4687.

With brief publisher's catalogue to foot of each title. Engraved throughout.

Provenance
Noted American harpsichordist Louis Bagger (1926-2024); earlier Lulworth Castle, with "From the Lulworth Castle Collection" in pencil to front pastedown.

Minor internal wear; occasional small stains, light foxing, and soiling, mainly to blank margins; inor losses and tears, some repaired with archival tape; manuscript notation to Vol. I, p. 37 ("Mary [?]Smead") slightly cropped. "Stanley is chiefly remembered for his three sets of organ voluntaries, which, though published between 1748 and 1754, include pieces dating from the late 1720s and the 1730s. They are mostly in the two-movement form established by his teachers Reading and Greene, consisting of a slow introduction for diapasons and a quick movement featuring a solo stop, such as the cornet or trumpet. Each volume ends with three or four preludes and fugues for full organ." Malcolm Boyd, revised by A.G. Williams in Grove Music Online.

The first appearance in print of Stanley's celebrated and influential organ voluntaries, admired by Handel himself, among others.