Acts and Monuments

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py3ak

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Is there an edition of John Foxe's Acts and Monuments available in print at a reasonable price? I have been looking around this morning, and I find many editions of The Book of Martyrs whose degree of abridgement is not specified online. I would like to have a substantial edition where editing was relatively light, or at least ancient.
 
Thanks, Chris. I had come across that and it's much better than nothing, but not quite as nice as a printed edition.
 
Thanks, Jimmy! That is quite a bundle, but this is a civilization-preserving and transmitting book.
 
Thanks, Jimmy! That is quite a bundle, but this is a civilization-preserving and transmitting book.
You're welcome. If you decide it is something you might want to pursue ... I offered them $600 and they accepted that amount. Years ago, but I imagine with the current state of the market economy it might be attractive to them. Things were pretty good when they accepted my offer.
 
This costs a bundle, and I happen to have the set. It is quite well done.

https://greatsite.com/facsimile-reproductions/foxe-1684.html
I have snooped around on this site for years and have long wanted to have this three volume facsimile of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (along with every other book they offer). Glad to see it is still being offered. I have no idea who these people are or what market there is for this stuff, but it couldn't be much.
 
I think a decent critical edition would be a good project, perhaps for someone at Oxford, Foxe's alma mater.
 
I think a decent critical edition would be a good project, perhaps for someone at Oxford, Foxe's alma mater.
Or perhaps The Banner of Truth Trust. I know I would gladly pay $150-$250 for a nice cloth bound three volume set. If Oxford did it, it would cost you a small fortune to purchase. Their prices are insane.
 
Or perhaps The Banner of Truth Trust. I know I would gladly pay $150-$250 for a nice cloth bound three volume set. If Oxford did it, it would cost you a small fortune to purchase. Their prices are insane.
That would be very nice. Usually they haven't done independent critical editions, so if they took on the project I think having it retypeset would be the most we could hope for.
 
That would be very nice. Usually they haven't done independent critical editions, so if they took on the project I think having it retypeset would be the most we could hope for.
Usually, but they have done some. But even if they did retypset it, I think it would be fine as long as the actual text is unabridged and included the historical woodcuts which to me, are a big reason I wanted the facsimile.
 
But even if they did retypset it, I think it would be fine as long as the actual text is unabridged and included the historical woodcuts which to me, are a big reason I wanted the facsimile.
Whereas I would rather have a clearly legible version, even without woodcuts.
 
Exactly how big is A&M?

Enormous. About 2.5 times the length of the Bible if I recall correctly. The link you posted has the critical apparatus and difference between editions.

There was also an edition published in the 1800s in eight volumes by Cattley which was criticized, I'm not entirely sure why. But I mention this because this was reprinted at some point, but very hard to find.

Foxe's goal was to catalogue every single martyr...ever. So he collected information from whatever source people would give him as a monument to these martyrs.

As such, it is interesting for historical purposes. I started typesetting it (from the 1583 edition) about ten years ago but abandoned it. I'm appreciative of its historical place, and I hate to say it, but if any work needed abridging and selecting of the best bits, it's probably this one. However, I did obtain permission from David Loades (director of the project linked above) to use the text they had compiled on their site.

I also took the time to copy the entire text into text files, by book. I still have that. When I started typesetting, I estimated that double-columned, with a generous 8.75 x 5.75 inch text block, 10 point font, it would still be 6,500 pages long.
 
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Enormous. About 2.5 times the length of the Bible if I recall correctly. The link you posted has the critical apparatus and difference between editions.

There was also an edition published in the 1800s in eight volumes by Cattley which was criticized, I'm not entirely sure why. But I mention this because this was reprinted at some point, but very hard to find.

Foxe's goal was to catalogue every single martyr...ever. So he collected information from whatever source people would give him as a monument to these martyrs.

As such, it is interesting for historical purposes. I started typesetting it (from the 1583 edition) about ten years ago but abandoned it. I'm appreciative of its historical place, and I hate to say it, but if any work needed abridging and selecting of the best bits, it's probably this one. However, I did obtain permission from David Loades (director of the project linked above) to use the text they had compiled on their site.

I also took the time to copy the entire text into text files, by book. I still have that. When I started typesetting, I estimated that double-columned, with a generous 8.75 x 5.75 inch text block, 10 point font, it would still be 6,500 pages long.
Okay; that small idea evaporated. If I was going to publish 6500 pages, I'd do Durham's 228 sermons on Song of Solomon in manuscript and call it even for a life's work.
 
I also took the time to copy the entire text into text files, by book. I still have that. When I started typesetting, I estimated that double-columned, with a generous 8.75 x 5.75 inch text block, 10 point font, it would still be 6,500 pages long.
Hence why a university should tackle this project.
 
Apparently, there hasn't been one yet. The logical candidate is Oxford, but they've had centuries to tackle it and haven't done so. Maybe Truman State University would be interested, or other universities with a strong historical research department specializing in Early Modern studies.
 
Apparently, there hasn't been one yet. The logical candidate is Oxford, but they've had centuries to tackle it and haven't done so. Maybe Truman State University would be interested, or other universities with a strong historical research department specializing in Early Modern studies.
We should pray to that end. It would be a crying shame for such a great work to be lost to history.
 
We should pray to that end. It would be a crying shame for such a great work to be lost to history.

I would say that TAMO project was just such a preservation project. All editions published during Foxe's lifetime (he did substantial revisions between each edition, so there really isn't a definitive one), all compiled and not just OCR'd, but proofed and commented on too. In fact, I don't know how one would do such a massive critical effort in print form.

It's fully digitized. I would say that's a pretty good way for it to not be lost to history, especially since I haven't seen this kind of treatment done to any other early modern English work. You can also get a facsimile (with all the woodcuts) on CD.

So it seems to me that it has been preserved, and magnificently so. And since it's essentially like an encyclopedia of martyrs, I cannot imagine anyone actually fully reading (or needing to read) through the entire thing. I'm typically opposed to abridgements but this seems to me to be an ideal candidate for "best of" volumes, which is almost exclusively what we've seen published over the years. Now, I certainly would like to see a Banner of Truth or a Reformation Heritage books "best of" edition!
 
The Greatsite Bible Museum edition is 2,580 pages, weighs 22 pounds for the three volumes. The first volume weighs 8 pounds alone. The woodcuts are dark, print is readable, and it is a facsimile of a 1684 edition, and purports to be 'the only unabridged facsimile of Foxe's that has ever been made!'
Foxes_1.jpg Foxes_2.jpg Foxes_3.jpg
 
Very interesting Jimmy! I was curious, since this had been published 100 years after Foxe's last edition, how closely it correlated. Based on the page you posted it looks pretty close to the 1583 edition, with some minor editorial changes that are probably for the better. I would be curious to know if it is the complete 1583 text but that would require quite an amount of work to check thoroughly.
 
Very interesting Jimmy! I was curious, since this had been published 100 years after Foxe's last edition, how closely it correlated. Based on the page you posted it looks pretty close to the 1583 edition, with some minor editorial changes that are probably for the better. I would be curious to know if it is the complete 1583 text but that would require quite an amount of work to check thoroughly.
Thanks Logan, I just listened to the video Greatsite made promoting the book. They claim they selected the 1684 edition because it is the only complete edition of Foxe's work. They are a company that sells rare editions of the Bible for many thousands of dollars. I assume they have had access to the 1583 edition to compare with the 1684. One way or the other, quite a tome. I haven't finished it yet :pilgrim:

 
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