Is My Actes and Monuments (Foxe's Book of Martyrs) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The 1563 first English edition is a single folio of about 1,800 pages illustrated with roughly 60 woodcuts
• STC 11222
• ESTC S122006
• The identifying imprint reads: "Imprinted at London by Iohn Day dwelling ouer Aldersgate, beneth saynt Martins, anno
• 1563. the
• 20. of March." Foxe's own revised folios follow and must not be mistaken for it: 1570 (STC 11223, two volumes, over 2,300 folio pages, woodcuts increased to about 150), 1576 (STC 11224, a reprint on inferior paper in a smaller type), and 1583 (STC 11225, his last lifetime revision, two volumes in double columns)

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
4. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

Day's 1563 folio is the first English edition and the first appearance under the title "Actes and Monuments," but it is not the work's first appearance in print. Two Latin precursors precede it and are collected as the original-language firsts: Commentarii rerum in ecclesia gestarum (Strasbourg, 1554), Foxe's partly completed martyrology, and its greatly expanded successor Rerum in ecclesia gestarum... commentarii (Basel, August 1559, 732 numbered pages), which incorporates the 1554 text almost word for word in its first book. The 1563 English folio is a translation and roughly threefold expansion of the 1559 Rerum. Collectors of the work in its original language take the 1554 Strasbourg Commentarii as the true first; collectors of the English text take Day's 1563.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Foxe never wrote a book titled "Book of Martyrs" and explicitly denied writing any "booke bearying the title Booke of Martyrs" — so essentially every copy arriving under that name is a later abridgment or reprint, not the Actes and Monuments. Documented sequence: Timothy Bright's abridgment (1589) is the first abridgment; Clement Cotton followed (1613); three-volume folios appeared in 1641 and 1684 (the last complete folio, with woodcut or copperplate illustrations) and, unlike the lifetime folios, are commonly found complete and in fine condition; the Cattley and Townsend eight-volume edition (1837-41) is the last complete printing. From the 19th century onward roughly fifty-five printings of various abridgments appeared within a single century, condensing over 2,000 folio pages into a couple hundred pages. Illustrated Victorian volumes and modern paperbacks titled "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" are abridgments, not editions of the Actes and Monuments.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Actes and Monuments (Foxe's Book of Martyrs) a first edition?

A first edition of Actes and Monuments (Foxe's Book of Martyrs) by John Foxe (John Day, London) is identified by: The 1563 first English edition is a single folio of about 1,800 pages illustrated with roughly 60 woodcuts.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. Day's 1563 folio is the first English edition and the first appearance under the title "Actes and Monuments," but it is not the work's first appearance in print.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

Foxe never wrote a book titled "Book of Martyrs" and explicitly denied writing any "booke bearying the title Booke of Martyrs" — so essentially every copy arriving under that name is a later abridgment or reprint, not the Actes and Monuments. Documented sequence: Timothy Bright's abridgment (1589) is the first abridgment; Clement Cotton followed (1613); three-volume folios appeared in 1641 and 1684 (the last complete folio, with woodcut or copperplate illustrations) and, unlike the lifetime foli

I have a first edition of Actes and Monuments (Foxe's Book of Martyrs) — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.