The editors of the 148 letters published in this volume rightly argue that their primary importance lies in what they reveal about ‘the everyday life and experiences of a priest’ (p. 28), albeit one living through a period of bewildering changes. George Davenport, though a Leicestershire man, spent most of his career in the diocese of Durham. There he rose with the patronage of Bishop John Cosin, whom he served as domestic chaplain, and whose death in 1672 ended his client's hopes of a lucrative cathedral appointment. Nevertheless, Davenport's life during the Restoration was generally marked by material comfort, mostly derived from the substantial revenues provided by the very rich living of Houghton-le-Spring. His letters display in microcosm the vast energy and resources that clergy deployed during the first two decades of the Restoration in rebuilding the physical and administrative sinews of the Church of England after the severe trials and tribulations of the 1650s. We read about Davenport's concern with bell-founding, the design of pulpit cloths, defending his financial rights against refractory parishioners, book-buying and accounts. Most of all we see Davenport's immense commitment to building projects. All but a handful of the letters were written to William Sancroft, who would within months of his friend's death become archbishop of Canterbury. Sancroft had been Davenport's tutor at Cambridge, and predecessor as Cosin's chaplain and rector of Houghton. The lifelong bond between the two men is evident in the frequently light-hearted tone of this correspondence, which was in part maintained to keep Sancroft informed about his financial interests as a prebendary in the Durham chapter. Overall, although the transcriptions of letters are not faultless, and there are a few dating errors in the introduction, this edition forms a valuable new resource for ecclesiastical historians.