SOMNER, William

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 that Cathedrall Ocean of Images: by it many a Popish picture was discovered and demolished. It s sure working by the booke: but here is the wonder, that this booke should be a means to pull down Idols, which so much advaunceth Idolatry. William Somner worked as an ecclesiastical notary at the Cathedral. The Antiquities of Canterbury appeared when William was only 34 widely welcomed but the dedication of the book to his patron Archbishop Laud proved to be unfortunate. Laud was arrested for treason the following year and beheaded four years later. This setback put paid to William s original plans for a history of the whole county of Kent. When Cromwell s parliamentary soldiers smashed the cathedral font in 1642, William managed to collect the pieces and hide them. Eighteen years later, with the Commonwealth period at an end, King Charles II returned to England.., and called at Canterbury ..and William was able to offer the king a copy of his history of Canterbury. In that same year, 1660, William returned the pieces of font to the cathedral, and the elaborate apparatus was re-assembled Canterbury Historical and Archaeological Society.