Historical Memorials of Canterbury; The Landing of Augustine, The Murder of Becket, Edward the Black Prince, Becket's Shrine

London: John Murray, 1855. 2nd Printing. Cloth. Good. 8vo., original black cloth framed with a border design, brown endpapers, half-title, dedication page, 3 pages contents, introduction, title to "Landing of Augustine" with notes on the verso. Illustrated throughout; frontispiece engraving with tissue covering, 6 illustrations, 1 fold-out. Index, addenda, 32 page catalog Mr. Murray's General List of Works. -- Spine completely gone. Text block and endpapers tight. Internally clean and sound. Needs to be recased. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-81), later Dean of Westminster, was a canon of Canterbury when he published this work, consisting of four essays on the history of the cathedral, in 1854. It was reprinted almost immediately, and the 1855 printing is reissued here. Stanley described the work as 'an endeavour to connect topics of local interest with the general course of history', and he takes four events associated with Canterbury - the arrival of Augustine, the murder of Becket, the death of the Black Prince, and the development of the shrine of Becket - and puts them in a historical context, while also describing the locations in which scenes of historical importance were enacted, and including fascinating details from his literary sources, such as Becket's hair shirt, discovered after his murder to be alive with vermin. - Amazon.