AN ARRAY of books documenting the history of the city and surrounding areas are to go on sale to boost funds for Salisbury Museum.

David Brown has been building up his collection of local history books over the last 40 years and to show his support for Salisbury Museum has donated some of his vast collection - more than 3,000 - including books on Salisbury Cathedral, Stonehenge and Longleat.

Some of the books will go into building up the museum's own library to make it a more "comprehensive" collection while the rest will be up for grabs at a book sale on Saturday, August 13.

All funds raised will go towards the Past Forward: Salisbury Museum for Future Generations project to revamp the museum.

The 87-year-old, a former aircraft engineer at Boscombe Down who was born and bred in Salisbury, made an additional donation of £6,000 to support Past Forward.

In the past he has supported other local causes in the city. The breast care unit at Salisbury District Hospital was named in his honour after he made a substantial donation to the campaign to build it.

Kate Barker, the chief operating officer for The Salisbury Museum, said that as well as "building the library collection" that financially it would help "enormously" with fundraising efforts for Past Forward.

She also thanked Mr Brown, who was a guide at Salisbury Cathedral for 38 years and was also a steward, for his generous donation adding: "It is invaluable to us at such a pivotal but exciting exciting time in the museum's development and we hope that he is equally excited about being part of that. We're looking forward to the book sale and for some many local people to share a part of his history and his interests."

The book sale runs from 9.30am until 4pm in the museum’s lecture hall.