A Boke made by Johan Fryth, prysoner in the Towr of London: answering unto. M. Mores letter. 1548

FRITH, John. A Boke made by Johan Fryth, prysoner in the Towr of London: answering unto. M. Mores letter, which he wrote against the fyrst lytle treatyse that Johan Fryth made concerning the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ…
[London: Anthony Scoloker, and Wyllya[m] Seres, 1548]

Dimensions
8vo (120 x 90 mm)

Description
[234]pp., lacking last leaf with printer’s device (P8). Black letter; wide margins.

Binding
Bound in 17th-century sheep binding.

Condition
Tightly bound (with evidence of early stitching on leather supports visible). Heavily worn externally, boards detached, loss to head of spine. Hinges sprung, initial exposed, pastedowns gathering lightly dampstained, small marginal hole to leaf E3, small ink stain to text of leaf L1, occasional light marginal staining.

An unsophisticated copy of the first edition printed in England of the final of one of the most influential theologians and martyrs of the English Reformation, printed in the year that saw the first doctrinal changes to
the official eucharistic theology of the nascent Reformed English Church come into effect.

Author
John Frith (1503-1533) was an evangelical theologian and one of the most influential writers of the early Reformation. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, before falling under evangelical influence and becoming associated with the reforming circle of William Tyndale. His antagonistic replies to Thomas More, John Rastell, and John Fisher led to his persecution charges of heresy, which Frith narrowly escaped by fleeing to the continent. However, his translations and his own writings on purgatory, the Lord’s Supper, and the authority of Scripture helped spread reformist ideas in England. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1532 during a brief visit to England, on the warrant of Sir Thomas More. His lengthy stay in the tower provided Frith with ample time to write down his specific objections to the Church doctrine of transubstantiation (as explained in the preface), leading to his martyrdom at the stake in 1533.

References
ESTC S102658; USTC 504051; Pollard 11384.