The First [& Second] Volume of the Ecclesiasticall History Contayning the Actes and Monumentes of Thinges Passed in Every Kinges Time, in this Realme, 1576. The Third Edition of Foxe’s Great Book of Martyrs, Vividly Illustrated Author: John Foxe

Title: The First [& Second] Volume of the Ecclesiasticall History Contayning the Actes and Monumentes of Thinges Passed in Every Kinges Time, in this Realme, Especially in the Churche of England Principally to be Noted. With a full discourse of such persecutions, horrible troubles, the suffring of martirs, the severe punishment of persecutors, 1576. The Third Edition of Foxe’s Great Book of Martyrs, Vividly Illustrated
Author: John Foxe
Publisher: London, John Daye
Condition: Very Good

An uncommon late 16th century, and Third Edition of John Foxe’s ecclesiastical history, Actes and Monuments, and more famously known as the Book of Martyrs, largely being a reprint of his 1570 Second Edition, but still being one of his lifetime imprints.

Published rather early in Queen Elizabeth the First’s Reign, the work is a polemical account of the sufferings of Protestants under the Catholic Church, focusing particularly on England and Scotland. The powerful Protestant messaging in Foxe’s work, combined with the narrative and visual impact of the martyred English very much helped shape the perception of Catholicism among the English and Scottish for centuries to come.

Volume I is an "Ecclesiastical History" containing "the acts and monuments [no capitals] of thynges passed in every kynges tyme in this realm [England], specially in the Church of England". It describes "persecutions, horrible troubles, the suffering of martyrs [new], and other such thinges incident ... in England and Scotland, and [new] all other foreign nations".

Volume II has its own title page and, again, an altered subject, being an "Ecclesiastical History conteyning the Acts and Monuments of Martyrs".

This edition has been numerous woodcut illustrations (and one folding plate), being roughly 150 large in text examples, with the cuts to the second volume providing vividly brutal imagery of various Protestant martyrs in their final stages of life, whether burnt at the stake, beheaded, or executed in some other gruesome fashion. There is also a rather large and decorated historiated initial at the beginning of the dedication, depicting Queen Elizabeth.

There is a bookplate of one Elkan Nathan Nadler, designed by May Sandheim, and dated 1902 to the upper pastedown.

A total of 27 leaves and three folding plates are lacking (largely preliminary and index), being the original title page to volume one, which has been supplemented by a title page from the 1570 Second Edition. Also lacking are four other preliminary leaves, and pages 153-162. Volumes Two is lacking the last four main text leaves, and the 14-leaf index and colophon as well. Three of the four folding plates are lacking, but the Poysoning of King John is present. Surprisingly, none of the missing text leaves contained any woodcuts. ESTC records 37 existing copies of this edition in libraries. Of those 37 copies, 14 are either imperfect, incomplete, or in a couple cases, simply orphan volumes.

Two volumes finely bound in one folio, (18 of 26)+ 762 of 771+(3)+773-1820+1833-1868+1848 of 1857-2008 pages

The volume is in near contemporary calf, albeit with some modern repairs to the upper and lower spine compartments, the joints, board corners, and upper board near the fore-edge also being repaired, and a modern calf title label being inserted.

This volume is in very good shape, with very little rubbing or wear to the binding. The supplemented Volume 1 title page is torn at the fore edge, with a bit of loss, and repaired. The folding plate has been repaired and backed for protection, as has the final page to Volume 1, with the large woodcut of the “Allegory of Christian Justice”. There is some marginal fraying, with a few leaves slightly cropped to the margins, and several leaves worn or torn at the margins, with the occasional bit of text loss and a few repairs, especially to the last handful of leaves. A small upper corner to pages 1761-1762 is lacking but has been supplemented by hand to replace missing text. There is minor, scattered browning and soiling, with a bit of damp-staining at the foot of the pages throughout much of the volume.