The Faust Tales of Christoph Rosshirt

"[E]nriches Faust philology . . . through a reliable edition of one its early textual sources." Dieter Martin, GERMANISTIK

"The time is . . . ripe for what the editor calls a "corrective to our understanding of the sixteenth-century character known as Faust" (4). [This is a] handsomely produced volume . . . with [a]ttractive reproductions of the illustrations in their surprisingly well-preserved original colours [, which] lead on to an extensive review of visualizations of Faustus across the centuries. The edition concludes with an attempt to situate Rosshirt within literary history and a meticulous review of the evidence for and against seeing Doctor Faustus as a historical figure." Osman Durrani, FOLKLORE

"J. M. van der Laan . . . presents a critical edition of the six Faust tales contained in Rosshirt's extensive manuscript. The edition consists of a high-quality facsimile print of Rosshirt's manuscript (21-59), followed in synoptic presentation by a diplomatic transcription of the early New High German text and a modern English translation (60-137). A commentary on the text, which provides both lexical explanations and historical contexts, is found in the footnotes. The edition is flanked by an extensive introduction (1-17), which provides information on the sparse biographical data on Christoph Rosshirt, on the language and content of his manuscript, a detailed description of the manuscript, and notes on the edition and translation that follow. The book is followed by two essays, one on the illustrations in Rosshirt's manuscript, the other on the vehement discussion that has been going on for decades about the data on the historical Faust." Joana van de Löcht, DAPHNIS