The discovery of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial in the summer of 1939 opened a window on the early Anglo-Saxon world through which we have all since been looking. But the view has inevitably been blurred until now, lacking the precise definition which only the publication of the definitive study could provide. The first of the four volumes of this most eagerly awaited and often anticipated account has now appeared: it is an offering worthy of its subject, comprehensive, generous in detail, splendidly produced.