Historia von D. Johann Fausten, the first "

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

book", is a

chapbook A chapbook is a type of small printed booklet that was a popular medium for street literature throughout early modern Europe. Chapbooks were usually produced cheaply, illustrated with crude woodcuts and printed on a single sheet folded into 8, 1 ...

of stories concerning the life of

Johann Georg Faust Johann Georg Faust ( , ; or 1466 – c. 1541), sometimes also Georg Sabellicus Faustus and known in English as John Faustus, was a German itinerant alchemist, astrologer, and magician of the German Renaissance. He was often called a conman ...

, written by an anonymous German author. It was published by Johann Spies (1540–1623) in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

in 1587, and became the main source for the play ''

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus ''The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus'', commonly referred to simply as ''Doctor Faustus'', is an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on German stories about a scholar who sells his soul to the devil in e ...

'' by

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe ( ; Baptism, baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the English Renaissance theatre, Eli ...

and

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

closet play A closet (especially in North American English, North American English usage) is an enclosed space, with a door, used for storage, particularly that of clothes. ''Fitted closets'' are built into the walls of the house so that they take up no app ...

'', and also served as the libretto of the opera by

Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer. Among the most performed and recorded composers of late 20th-century classical music, he is described by musicologist Ivan Moody (composer), Ivan Moody as a ...

, also entitled Historia von D. Johann Fausten. The Faust Book seems to have been written during the latter half of the sixteenth century (1568–81 or shortly thereafter). It comes down to us in manuscript from a professional scribe in Nuremberg and also as a 1587 imprint from the prominent Frankfurt publishing house of Johann Spies. The better-known version is the Spies imprint of 1587. It came out in September, was reprinted again in the same year and very frequently thereafter, each time with additional tales about Faust, usually old, known folktales with the superimposition of Faust's name. In accord with the theological reputation and clientele of the Spies printing house, their 1587 imprint is also heavily larded with religious commentary. Such "admonitions to the Christian reader" played so well that by the end of the century they had grown to become the major part of the (printed) Faust Books. The general sloppiness and repetitiveness of all these additions, however, seems to have diminished the book's popularity in the long run. As people became less disposed to religious controversy it ceased to be such an attractive book. An English version based on the ''Historia'' was published in 1592, which became known as the "English Faust Book". The ''Historia'' may also have been the source of

Thomas Roscoe Thomas Roscoe (Liverpool 23 June 1791 – 24 September 1871 London) was an English author and translator. Life The fifth son of William Roscoe, he was born in Toxteth, Toxteth Park, Liverpool in 1791, and educated by Dr. W. Shepherd and by ...

's translation, "History of that Renowned Arch Sorcerer, Doctor J. Faust", published in ''The German Novelists'' (1826). The manuscript version of the Historia was eventually edited by H. G. Haile for the Erich Schmidt Verlag, 1960, and for Carl Winter Verlag, 1996. Haile also published a translation, ''The History of Dr. Johann Faustus'' (University of Illinois, 1965).

References

External links

The Wolfenbüttel Manuscript

1587–88 edition (Tübingen: Alexander Hock)

1588 edition, s.l.

1588 edition (Lübeck: Johan Bathorn)
- translated into a "

Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...

" dialect
1876 edition (Frankfurt: Brönner Verlag)

1924 edition (Jena: Diederichs Verlag)

"History of that Renowned Arch Sorcerer, Doctor J. Faust"
(1826) by Thomas Roscoe
The English Faust Book
(1592) reproduction {{Authority control 1587 books Renaissance literature German books European folklore

Works based on the Faust legend Chapbooks German novels adapted into plays Works published anonymously de:Historia von D. Johann Fausten