The early editions of Thomas a Kempis' great work were in manuscript, many of them beautifully illuminated. A noteworthy edition was brought out in 1600 at Antwerp by Henry Sommalius, S. J. The works of Thomas a Kempis in three volumes were issued by this same editor in 1615. The first English version of the _Imitation_ was made by Willyam Atkynson and was printed by Wykyns de Worde in 1502. In 1567 Edward Hake issued a fine edition. Among the best English editions are those of Canon Benham, Sir Francis Cruise, Bishop Challoner and the Oxford edition of 1841. The best edition for the beginner is that edited by Brother Leo, F. S. C., Professor of English Literature in St. Mary's College, Oakland, California. It is in the Macmillan's Pocket Classics and has an admirable introduction of fifty-three pages. The notes are brief but very helpful. Some of the best articles on Thomas a Kempis are to be found in _The Catholic Encyclopedia_ and _The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Thought_. There has been much controversy over the authorship of _The Imitation of Christ_, but the weight of evidence is conclusive that Thomas a Kempis was the writer of this book, which has preserved his name for five hundred years. The book was issued anonymously and some manuscript copies of it bore the name of St. Bernard and others that of John Gerson. As Thomas a Kempis spent most of his life copying sacred books it was assumed that he had merely copied the text of another monk's work. A Spanish student in 1604 found a sentence from the _Imitation_ quoted in a sermon attributed to Bonaventura, who died in 1273, two hundred years before the death of Thomas. This caused a great literary sensation and it was some time before it was established that the sermon was not by Bonaventura but belonged to the fifteenth century. In casting about for the real author of the _Imitation_ the Superior of the Jesuit College at Arona, Father Rossignoli, found an undated copy of the _Imitation_ in the college library with the signature of Johannis Gerson. The college had been formerly conducted by the Benedictines, so it was assumed that Gerson was the real author. It was only after much research that it was proved that this manuscript copy of the _Imitation_ was brought to Arona from Genoa in 1579. Constantine Cajetan, a fanatic in his devotion to the order of St. Benedict, found in a copy of the _Imitation_ printed in Venice in 1501 a note saying, "this book was not written by John Gerson but by John, Abbot of Vercelli." A manuscript copy was also found by him bearing the name of John of Carabuco. Out of these facts Cajetan built up his theory that John Gerson of Carabuco, Benedictine Abbot of Vercelli, was the real author of the _Imitation_.