Cathedral

Thomas Cocke and Peter Kidson, Salisbury Cathedral perspectives on the Architectural History (London: Royal Commission on Historical Monuments of England, 1993).

"Historical Summary" by Thomas Cocke summarizes the early years of building then chronicles the changes made to the cathedral from 1220 to the 1980's. In "The Historical Circumstances and the Principles of the Design" Peter Kidson provides his own interpretation of some of the information provided by Cocke and goes on to discuss the underlying mathematical system of the design. Handsome black and white illustrations. Fold-out plan of the cathedral - the most accurate to date. The plan is indispensible.

Sarah Brown, Sumptuous and richly adorn'd: the decoration of Salisbury Cathedral (London: Royal Commission on Historical Monuments of England, 1999).

The final volume on the cathedral includes sepulchral monuments, church fittings, glass and tiles.

Nikolaus Pevsner, Wiltshire , from The Buildings of England (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd., 1975).

Laurence Keen and Thomas Cocke, eds., “Medieval Art and Architecture at Salisbury Cathedral.” The British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions, XVII.

Contains a small version of the RCHME plan of the cathedral. Twelve articles include Diana Greenway on St. Osmund, Gavin Simpson on dendrochronological evidence, Peter Draper and Virginia Jansen on cathedral architecture, M.F. Hearn and Lee Willis on the Lady Chapel, Richard Morris on buttressing, Tim Tatton-Brown on the spire, Pamel Blum on sculpture in the chapter house, James King on sculpture at Old Sarum, Freda Anderson on tomb-slabs, Christopher Norton on pavements and Richard Marks on stained glass.

The Religious Houses of Wiltshire, from A History of Wiltshire, III (Dawson Publishing, 1956).

Contains chapters on ecclesiastical history from 1087 to 1956, Roman Catholicism and Protestant Nonconformity, along with individual chapters on the cathedral, abbeys, priories, friaries, hospitals and colleges in Wiltshire. Substance is mainly documentary history. Excellent source book. Few illustrations.

Architecture

Pamela Blum, “The Sequence of the Building Campaigns at Salisbury.” Art Bulletin, LXXIII(1991): 6-37.

Canon A.F. Smethurst, Salisbury Cathedral. (London: Pitkin Pictorials Limited, 1990).

Pamphlet with excellent color photographs and a brief historical text.

Roy Spring, Salisbury Cathedral a landmark in England's heritage (London: Shell Publicity Services, 1991).

Roy Spring, Salisbury Cathedral, from New Bell's Cathedral Guides (London: Unwin Hyman, 1987).

Excellent guide but unfortunately out-of-print.

Rena Gardiner, The Story of Salisbury Cathedral (Tarrant Monkton, Dorset: Workshop Press, 1994).

Drawings and brief historical text that are not just for children. The only publication that gives some indication, albeit over-enthusiastically, of the color that once graced Salisbury Cathedral inside and out.

Roy Spring, Mark of the Mason at Salisbury Cathedral (Much Wenlock: RJK Smith and Associates, 1995).

Former clerk of the works discusses mason's marks. Good color photographs.

Tim Ayers, ed., Salisbury Cathedral: The West Front. A History and Study in Conservation (Chichester, England: Phillimore and Co., Ltd., 2000).

Sculpture

Pamela Blum, “The Middle English romance, ‘Iacob and Iosep,’ and the Joseph cycle of the Salisbury chapter house.” Gesta, 8: 18-34.

Pamela Blum, The Salisbury chapter-house and its Old Testament cycle: An archeological and iconographical study (U.M.I. 8121401, ).

Ph.D. dissertation

Pamela Blum, “The sculptures of the Salisbury chapter house.” BAA Conference Transactions, 17(1991): 68-78.

Marion Roberts, “The Tomb of Giles de Bridport in Salisbury Cathedral.” Art Bulletin, LXV(1983): 559-586.

Canon David Durston, The Chapter House Salisbury Cathedral. (1995).

Clear but small photographs of individual scenes of the Old Testment carved in relief on the interior of the chapter house. No general pictures of the interior, however.

Stained Glass

Pamela Blum, “Thirteenth-Century Glass of the Salisbury Chapter House.” Gesta, 37: 142-149.

Roy Spring, Stained Glass Salisbury Cathedral (Much Wenlock: RJK Smith and Associates, 1997).

Pamphlet inventory of stained glass in the cathedral from the middle ages to the present. One wishes it were fully illustrated.

Liturgy

Pamela Blum, “Liturgical influences on the design of the west front at Wells and Salisbury.” Gesta, 25: 145-150.

Terence Bailey, The Processions of Sarum and the Western Church (1971).

Detailed discussion of the liturgy developed at Salisbury known as the Rite of Sarum.

People

Daphne Stroud, Saint Osmund of Salisbury (Much Wenlock: RJK Smith and Associates, 1994).

Biography of Salisbury Cathedral's only saint by a noted historian.

Daphne Stroud, Richard Poore and the building of Salisbury Cathedral (Salisbury: Cathedral Print Services Ltd, 1997).

Biographical essay of the first bishop of the thirteenth-century cathedral.

Adrian Hastings, Elias of Dereham Architect of Salisbury Cathedral (Much Wenlock: RJK Smith and Associates, 1997).

Useful discussion of the first clerk of the works at Salisbury Cathedral written by a professor of religious studies. Elias was not an architect or (more properly) a master mason, however, but an administrator.

Clifford Dobson, The Jewel of Salisbury (Much Wenlock: RJK Smith and Associates, 1996).

Biographical essay about Bishop John Jewel (1522-1571).

Kathleen Edwards, The English Secular Cathedrals in the Middle Ages (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1967).

Indispensible discussion of the English secular cathedrals with chapters on the canons, bishop, major and minor officials of the cathedral church.