Religion and the Book in Early Modern England
The Making of John Foxe's 'Book of Martyrs'

Explores the production of John Foxe's 'Book of Martyrs', a milestone in the history of the English book.

Elizabeth Evenden (Author), Thomas S. Freeman (Author)

9781107662933, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 February 2014

402 pages, 14 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.54 kg

'An important study of the making of the book in sixteenth-century England, providing illuminating details of the process.' Northern History

John Foxe's Acts and Monuments - popularly known as the 'Book of Martyrs' - is a milestone in the history of the English book. An essential history of the English Reformation and a seminal product of it, no English printed book before it had been as long or as lavishly illustrated. Examining the research behind the work and also its financing, printing and dissemination, Elizabeth Evenden and Thomas S. Freeman argue that, apart from Foxe's zeal and industry, the book was only made possible by extensive cooperation between its printer, John Day, and the Elizabethan government. Government patronage, rather than market forces, lay behind the book's success and ensured the triumph of a Protestant interpretation of the Reformation for centuries to come. Based on little-used manuscript sources, this book offers a unique insight not only into the 'Book of Martyrs' and the history of the English book, but into English history itself.

Introduction
1. The text in its context: the printer's world in early modern Europe
2. Ancient fragments and 'noythy bookes': the early careers of John Foxe and John Day
3. Adversity and opportunity: Foxe and Day during Mary's reign
4. The making of the first edition of the Acts and Monuments
5. Sources and resources: preparing the 1570 edition
6. 'Fayre pictures and painted pageants': the illustrations of the 'Book of Martyrs'
7. A Parting of the Ways? Foxe and Day, 1570–6
8. Fathers, sons and other adversaries: the background to and making of the 1583 edition
Conclusion. Foxe after Foxe: the making of the Acts and Monuments in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Subject Areas: Church history [HRCC2], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], British & Irish history [HBJD1]