Accuracy and ‘Error’ in the Production of John Foxe and John Day’s Acts and Monuments

Abstract

Abstract This essay focuses upon John Foxe and John Day’s approach to the correction of error in the production of successive editions of Acts and Monuments, especially through the use of slip-cancels, tiny scraps of paper which are intended for pasting over erroneous text, as well as the use of stop-press correction and the labeling of the book’s well-known woodcut illustrations. The bibliographical nature of successive editions of Foxe’s book overseen by Day emerges as even more complex than previously described. The argument adds to scholarly understanding of the goals and methodologies of both Foxe and Day. Bibliographical fluidity associated with John Day’s approach to error during production points toward the better understanding of textual fluidity within successive editions of Foxe’s work.