Excerpt from A Tragedie of Abrahams Sacrifice: Written in French by Theodoore Beza and Translated Into English by Arthur Golding A Tragedie of Abrahams Sacrifice is a translation by Arthur Golding of the Abraham Sacrifiant of Theodore de Beze, the eminent French theologian and reformer. The translation, which was finished in 1575, was published at London by Thomas Vantroullier in 1577, and has never been reprinted. The volume has become exceedingly rare; a copy is in the Bodleian Library, but I have not been able to learn of the existence of any other. The Bodleian copy, which was once in the possession of Malone, contains a manuscript note signed by him to the effect that it was bought at the sale of Mr. Forster's books in November, 1806, for io 4s. od. The Biographia Dramatica says: "This piece, which is rarely met with, sold for 20 guineas at a sale in King's auction room, a few years ago." Lowndes also notes, "Forster 1166, 10 . 5s. King and Lochee's, in 181-, 21 ." Collier refers to a manuscript copy of the play which is in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire (Annals, 2, p. 250). In the present edition I have attempted to reproduce as accurately as possible the copy which is in the Bodleian (black letter, 18mo.) except in one particular, viz. the abbreviated words are written in full. The capitalization, punctuation, paging and line arrangement, both in the introductory matter and in the play proper, have been preserved. The original title-page in fac-simile faces the title-page of this edition, and the pages on which illustrations appear have been reproduced to face the corresponding pages of the reprint. These illustrations would seem to be original with Golding's edition, although the workmanship is decidedly superior to that found in contemporary English wood-cuts. A copy of the 1552 edition of Beza's play in the Bibliotheque Mazarin, and a copy of the 1553 edition in the Bibliotheque de l' Arsenal contain no illustrations, and the detailed descriptions of Beza's other editions given by Rothschild make no reference to illustrations before 1669 (v. Le Mistere du Viel Testament, 11, pp. xlix-lxiii) Moreover it is hardly possible that Golding reproduced the wood-cuts of any of the earlier French versions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."