SARUM
The Novel of England

by

Edward Rutherfurd

Published by
Crown Publishers, Inc.
New York

1987

First American Edition
so stated

8vo

897 pages

Hardcover with dust wrapper

1/4 Black linen hardcover with dark blue boards
Corners pointed, Spine straight & tight
Gilt lettering on spine with
author, title and publisher
3 small white dots lower edge back board
Inner boards clean, no markings
Very slight foxing boards
Pages white, clean, unmarked, no bends
Maps explaining Sarum

Dust jacket in Mylar cover
Bright wrapper with pictorial
Stonehenge
Shelf rubs bottom spine
Small chip, tear, bottom corner
right front panel, closed with Mylar
Photo of author on jacket back flap
Price clipped w/ part showing.



"Sarum is an ambitious book to say the least. Weighing in at an impressive 1300 pages [897, HC], it represents an epic historical novel, several years of research and writing and a good many hours of reading.

The setting for this book is Salisbury and its immediate surroundings of Wiltshire. Rutherford chose this part of England because 'no place...I believe, has a longer visible history of building and occupation than the Sarum region...the wealth of archaeological information, let alone historical record is overwhelming' [Preface]. As for the name 'Sarum', it is a local term for the city, thought to originate from a mis-spelled abbreviation used by a medieval scribe, but later adopted by locals as an affectionate name for the area. Rutherford uses this name throughout the novel, however, alongside others that are appropriate to the time: Sorviodunum in Roman, Sarisberie in Norman French.

The device used to carry this novel is the intertwining histories of five local families. The Wilsons, descended from the original Mesolithic settlers, one time slaves and outcasts who rise to become local lords. The Porters, family of the Roman administrator Porteus and his Celtic wife, who all seem to inherit his met
iculous nature. The Masons, a line of skilled craftsmen originating in the Neolithic, who help build the two greatest monuments of the Sarum region: Stonehenge and Salisbury cathedral. The Shockleys, originally Saxon thanes who take their name from the profitable farm their family ran for many generations. Finally, the Godfreys, Norman knights of the name de Godfroi, who become Anglicized and poor, falling to the very bottom of the social spectrum before recovering their luck. Each family line therefore represents a different cultural grouping that arrived at Sarum at different times, be it locals of prehistoric decent, or incomers from the successive waves of invasion that England once faced, from Roman, then Saxon, then Norman. This structure allows both a gradual introduction to the different lines as we move through time - to attempt to satisfactorily do this for five families all at once would be both tedious and confusing for the reader - whilst still providing an element of continuity over the nine thousand years that are compressed into the span of the novel."
from: http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/sarum-edward-rutherfurd/419313/, 6-3-08.

"The author was born in Salisbury. England, and christened in Salisbury Cathedral." from jacket flap.

Very interesting read.
Weighty volume.
Highly collectible book.