[Handel, George Frederic. (1685-1759)]. Two Manuscript Land Assessment Books for the Brook St. Ward, London 1746 and 1747. Two land assessments from the middle years of Handel's long residence at 25 Brook Street in London, where the composer lived and worked from 1723 to the end of his life. Contemporaneous documents mentioning Handel are of the greatest rarity and these extraordinary documents provide considerable insight into the people who lived around the composer in the year (1746) that he wrote Judas Maccabeus and the Occasional Oratorio, and in the year (1747) that he wrote his oratorio 'Joshua' containing the original version of his famous chorus 'See the Conquering Hero Comes' written in celebration of the return of the Duke of Cumberland after the Battle of Culloden, and which Handel later incorporated into Judas Maccabeus. Both documents in very fine condition with expected light wear, details as follows:


The Land Tax assessment for the Brook Street Ward in London for 1746, listing all the residents and the amounts that they had to pay. Folio 38pp, plus marlbed card covers. Page one of the document listing "George Frederick Handell Esq" with an assessment of £25/5s., as well as many other notables including Lords Shrewsbury, Middlesex, Falmouth, Coventry and Malton, Edward Byng (noted portrait artist), The Bishop of Durham, the Countess of Essex, the Duke of Buccleugh, the Duchess of Rutland, and many more as well as less elevated members of society. The assessment is signed by four assessors at the conclusion.


The Land Tax assessment for the Brook Street Ward in London for 1747, listing all the residents and the amounts that they had to pay. Folio 44pp, plus marlbed card covers. Page one of the document listing "George Fredr. Handell Esq" with an assessment of £25/5s., as well as many other notables including Lords, Ladies (as above), the Bishop of Durham, Admiral George Martin, and many others. The assessment is signed by four assessors at the conclusion.


In 1723, Handel took an annual lease on 25 Lower Brook Street, a modest but newly constructed house near Cavendish, Hanover and Grosvenor Squares and New Bond Street, the Mayfair area just beind developed residentially at the time. Handel's house had its main reception room on the upper floor above the dusty ground floor and the bedroom was on the floor above. The museum which opened there in 2001 displays rooms which are remarkably small, considering that there is reliable evidence that he held rehearsals in the house, to which a select number of patrons were invited. "Over time, the house on Brook Street became a focal point for musical activity. Here, as well as in the homes of friends and neighbors, Handel played and sang his newest compositions for select company. In 1736, for example, Lord Shaftesbury wrote a glowing report to James Harris about the composer playing through his new score of Alexander's Feast 'not yet transcrib'd from his own hand,' adding that 'Handel was in high spirits & I think never play'd & sung so well.' Handel also held rehearsals in his home to which friends were invited; Mary Delany wrote to her mother that the composer was like 'a necromancer in the midst of his own enchantments' after she, her sister, and Anne Donnellan attended the first rehearsals of Alcina at Handel's house in 1735. Such musical activities at Brook Street, while of a special cast on account of their professional nature, took place withing a social context of lively music-making in private settings by accomplished amateurs." (Ellen T. Harris, "George Frideric Handel: A Life with Friends," p. 115-116)