ABSTRACT
It did not take long for Day to realise that the gamble he had taken in producing so large a work as Foxe’s Acts and Monuments had been worthwhile. Although the work had cost him a considerable amount of capital and time (which could have been devoted to other works), he was soon rewarded by the book’s good sales and the acclaim it received. Although it is not clear what financial return Day made on the work, it must have been quick and considerable, as in 1564 he and Foxe announced that they would produce another new edition.1 This quick decision to reproduce such a vast work came as the result of different intentions by author and printer. Foxe, surely pleased by the book’s reception, was nevertheless unhappy about various flaws and lacunae that had occurred in the work and so wished to correct them. Day, on the other hand, saw the potential to print a work that would solidify his reputation, and possibly also sell well, particularly as he had just been made Warden of the Stationers’ Company for the first time.2 Prior to the Acts and Monuments all the other large or expensive works that Day had printed had not made him a vast amount of profit, in fact barely a profit at all, although they had won him some esteem and had certainly influenced the patronage he received. Once Foxe’s book was finally released to a reading public, Day had to live up to the expectations it put on all future productions from his presses. He had set his own benchmark and, with it, his own market brand.
