SOURCE: "The Faust Book's Indebtedness to Augustin Lercheimer and Wittenberg Sources," Daphnis, Vol. 14, No. 3, 1985, pp. 517-45.

Below, Baron provides both biographical and textual evidence in support of the imfluence of Augustin Lercheimer's Christlich bedencken und erjnnerung von Zauberey (1585) on the original Faust Book, the Historia von D. Johann Fausten, published by Johann Spies in 1587.

The Faust-Book, originally entitled the Historia von D. Johann Fausten and published by Johann Spies in 1587, has been, directly or indirectly, the catalyst for the entire European Faust tradition in literature. Its instant popularity and its ability to inspire serious literary endeavors have made it the object of many scholarly investigations. Despite these efforts, the elementary questions of when, how, and why this anonymous book was written still await definitive answers. The background of this book remains a mystery.

When Gustav Milchsack discovered a hitherto unknown version of the Historia, the so-called Wolfenbüttel...