Religion and the Book in Early Modern England: The Making of John Foxe's 'Book of Martyrs' (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History)
Cambridge University Press, 7/14/2011
EAN 9780521833493, ISBN10: 0521833493
Hardcover, 402 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
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.