Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus" survives in two considerably different versions: the A-text (1604) and the B-text (1616). For generations of editors, the existence of these two versions has posed one of the most complex textual problems in English literature. In this study of the "Dr Faustus" text, Eric Rasmussen assembles new evidence establishing that the A-text was set in type from the original authorial manuscript and that the B-text represents a version of the play after it had been extensively revised more than a decade after Marlowe's death. This textual companion supplements the new "Revels Plays" edition of "Doctor Faustus", jointly edited by David Bevington and Eric Rasmussen, with detailed information about the printing of early texts. At the same time, Rasmussen moves beyond the limits of a traditional bibliographical study to consider aspects of dramatic collaboration, play revision and government censorship.
Eric Rasmussen is Professor and Chair of the Department of English at the University of Nevada. He co-edited, with Jonathan Bate, the Complete Works of Shakespeare for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His recent publications include Cynthia's Revels for the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson, and an edition of Everyman and Mankind, co-edited with Douglas Bruster, in the newly-launched Arden Early Modern Drama series.
For more updates on The Shakespeare Thefts, "like" www.facebook.com/ShakespeareThefts.
