SOMNER, William

by William Somner

£1,950 · Offered by Sokol Books

A handsome copy of the first edition of Somner s important description of the town of Canterbury and more particularly the Cathedral, finely illustrated with plates and a map. The Antiquities of Canterbury, true to its title, deals with antiquities : it is concerned only with that which is the work of civilization, and, its subject being Canterbury, it is not a country description, but an urban description. .. while Somner takes some basic notice of architecture, he does so in order to help determine age rather than to appreciate the impression a building might make on a visitor or resident. It is only in describing his beloved Cathedral that there is some betrayal of such sentiments .. .Somner takes his readers on a veritable guided tour of Canterbury Cathedral, and we may imagine that his text, rehearsing an itinerary which he had often followed in reality, while showing the church to visitors. In touring the building, Somner endeavours to inform his readers of the period of construction of each of the component sections, the benefactor or builder, and changes that may have transpired in form or utilization. Somner often quotes from Erasmus account of the Cathedral in pre-reformation times. Ironically Somner s book was used by the fanatical puritan preacher Reverend Richard Culmer who, in 1642, bearing a copy of this work, visited the Cathedral with the mayor in order to destroy the Cathedrall Idolls . He wrote of the book that it was a card and a compasse to sail by, in th

• Binding: Hardcover

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