[1] The earliest known owner of Drexel 5856 was the composer John Stafford Smith, who also was as an antiquarian and collector of manuscripts.

1813 The Gift of Mr. J. Stafford Smith Gentleman of His Majesty's Chapel supposed to be transcribed from Handel's mss by the late Mr. Smith.Below Wesley's writing is an inscription from the subsequent owner Edward Francis Rimbault, who wrote: I believe this book to have been written for the use of the Princess Amelia, who was Handel's pupil.

The hand-writing is certainly Smith's.Rimbault stated that he believed the manuscript to have been copied for Princess Amelia of Great Britain.

After Rimbault's death in 1876, the manuscript was listed as lot 1366 in the 1877 auction catalog of his estate (the number 1366 can be seen in the upper left corner of the initial leaf).

[6] The manuscript was one of about 600 lots purchased by Philadelphia-born financier Joseph W. Drexel, who had already amassed a large music library.