Actes and Monuments (Foxe's Book of Martyrs)

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.