“She was the first queen of England to write and publish her own books and to become a recognized author during her lifetime and the first Englishwoman to publish a work of prose in the sixteenth century.” (Susan James, “Catherine Parr: Henry VIII’s Last Love”, 2010, pg 12)

“The first edition of Queen Katherine Parr’s Prayers or Meditations appeared on June 2, 1545, under the title Prayers stirryng the mynd vnto heauenlye medytacions. This volume reprinted the two non-Biblical prayers—one for King Henry, the other for men to say going into battle—that concluded her translation Psalms or Prayers, published a year earlier. A second edition with the same contents, bearing the same date, carried the title Prayers or meditacions, wherin the mynde is styrred paciently to suffre all afflictions here. The definitive version (the third edition) appeared on November 6, 1545, under the title PRAYERS OR Medytacions, wherein the mynd is stirred, paciently to suffre all afflictions here, to set at nought the vayne prosperitee of this worlde, and alwaie to longe for the everlastynge felicitee: Collected out of holy wookes by the most vertuous and graciouse Princesse Katherine quene of Englande, Fraunce, and Irelande.1 This volume concluded with four prayers that may well be Queen Katherine’s compositions, the latter of the two just mentioned and three others that gradate from a public to a private perspective: “A devout prayer to be daily said,” “Another prayer,” and “A devout prayer.” The first two editions, identical except for their titles, and the third, definitive one rapidly gained popularity with English readers, who often knew the work as “The Queen’s Prayers.” Thirteen editions appeared before the end of the sixteenth century.” (Parr, Katherine, and Janel Mueller (ed.). “Introduction to Prayers or Meditations (1545).” In Katherine Parr: Complete Works and Correspondence. Edited by Janel Mueller (ed.).University of Chicago Press, 2011. Chicago Scholarship Online, 2013. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226647265.003.0009.)