The series was originally published between 1867 and 1873 by the
Presbyterian publishing house
T. & T. Clark in Edinburgh under the title
Ante-Nicene Christian Library (ANCL), as a response to the
Oxford movement's
Library of the Fathers which was perceived as too strongly identified with the Anglo-Catholic movement. The volumes were edited by Rev.
Alexander Roberts and
James Donaldson. This series was available by subscription, but the editors were unable to interest enough subscribers to commission a translation of the homilies of
Origen. In 1885 the Christian Literature Company, first of
Buffalo, then
New York, began to issue the volumes in a reorganized form. This was done without permission, and was indeed a pirate edition. The new series was edited by the Episcopal bishop of New York,
A. Cleveland Coxe. Coxe gave his series the title
The Ante-Nicene Fathers. By 1896, this American edition/revision was complete. Unable to close down the pirate, T. & T. Clark were obliged to make what terms they could. In 1897, a volume 9, which contained new translations, was published by T. & T. Clark as an additional volume, to complete the original ANCL. Apart from volume 9, the contents entirely derived from the ANCL, but in a more chronological order. Coxe added his own introductions and notes, which were criticized by academic authorities and Roman Catholic reviewers. T. & T. Clark then associated with the Christian Literature Company and with other American publishers for the publication of the
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. ==Volumes==