Incomplete sets and isolated members of part-books which were in use at the Chapel of New College, Oxford from the early 17th cent. up to the middle of the 19th cent. and probably later. Content and arrangement differ even in parts in the same set, as unwanted music was discarded when the books were repaired, and space was filled unsystematically (in the latter half of the period music was sometimes copied by one hand in unrelated books). On the covers there is usually an indication of the content (services and anthems), voice, and side (Decani or Warden's and Cantoris). Numbers, written or stamped, represent different attempts to distinguish the sets from one another. The parts are the work of a series of copyists, of whom two have recorded payments by the Bursar, Morgan Cove (1742-1744) and Philip Hayes (1781-1795). At different times indexes were added, generally omitting music not in use at the time.

Lists of the music are MS. Mus. d. 169*, and all the composers named are in the Accessions Index: see list at end. Only MS. Mus. d. 162 contains unascribed music, c 1600.

Composers of services and anthems in the New College Choir Books are: