This is the second edition of an earlier work by the same author which was originally published for the eponymous cathedral. The text has a promising title, but the narrative is less focused, perhaps inevitably owing to the complexity of the subject. It is primarily intended to be an account of the statutes, ceremonial and liturgical action associated with the Use of Sarum. By necessity, it is also an introduction to the medieval mass and office and their forms and order of service. Finally, it constitutes a brief history of the Church in England and of the history of the foundation at Salisbury in particular; in some 100 pages Baxter takes the reader from Augustine's mission to the Liturgical Commission of the Church of England. A Use is admittedly a substantial topic to cover, and Baxter more than satisfies the reader's need for a factual background. It is well demonstrated that a Use encompassed more than ritual and extended to matters of administration of the cathedral foundation. As a starting point for those seeking more extensive information on the Use of Sarum, however, it lacks rigour: there are only forty-four footnotes to cover the entire text, and some curious and specific points appear without a reference, including, for instance, a mention of the Veni Creator as a preparation hymn at the mass, first peculiar to Sarum and ‘later copied into the Bangor Use’. Admittedly, it must be extremely difficult to supply a reference for something as ephemeral as the Use of Bangor. It is noted (without the necessary context to corroborate such a calculation) that the Sarum kalendar had ‘182 feasts on specific dates’; but a later passage points out that the recognition of feastdays ‘did not remain static’. The text is not immune to hyperbole: we read of the ‘glorious episcopacy’ of Roger of Caen; of Sarum's ‘constant validity and appeal’; and hear several emphatic assertions of the ‘direct descendancy’ of the Prayer Book and of modern-day carol services from Sarum origins. Ultimately this well-illustrated and readable volume remains most useful for its original purpose: it is an introductory guidebook to the cathedral and its history, rather than a detailed account of local liturgy or customs, with a remit accordingly more popular than scholarly.