von Chr. Winters für das Puppentheater in Cöln. v. Scheible's "Kloster," Bd. V. ss. 805-818. [This play can scarcely be regarded as of any antiquarian interest.] 4 Johann Faust. Trauerspiel in drei Theilen. (Vom Augsburger Puppentheater.) v. Scheible's "Kloster," Bd. V. ss. 818-853 5. Der weltberühmte Doktor Faust. Schauspiel in fünf Aufzügen. (Vom Strassburger Puppentheater.) v. Scheible's "Kloster," Bd. V. ss. 853-884. 6. Johann Faust. Ein Lustspiel mit Arien. (Vom Augsburger Puppentheater.) v. Scheible's "Kloster," Bd. V. ss. 844. [Besides the above, vol. v. of Scheible's "Kloster" contains interesting monographs upon the Puppet-play by Franz Horn; Dr. C. L. Stieglitz; Ph. v. Leitner; Dr. I. Leutbecher; and Emil Sommer.] 7. Doctor Johannes Faust. Hergestellt von Karl Simrock. Puppenspiel in vier Aufzügen. [This work of Simrock's is at once the most literary and the least reliable of the versions laying claim to authenticity. It is pieced together from various fragments and sources, and owes so much to its compiler that it can scarcely be said to have any claim to recognition in the list of versions of the Puppet-play. It is, however, an important contribution to the literature on the subject.] 8. Das Puppenspiel vom Doctor Faust. Zum erstenmal in seiner ursprunglichen Gestalt wortgetreu herausgegeben mit ' einer historischen Einleitung und Kritischen Noten. Mit holzschnitten, Leipzig: Avenarius und Mendelssohn. 1850. 8. Kasperle-Theater, Nr. 1. [This is the version transcribed by Dr. Wilhelm Hamm from the MS. of the Puppet-player, Bonneschky, and now translated into English.] 9. Das Puppenspiel Doctor Faust von Oskar Schade. Besonderer Abrdruck. Weimarisches Iahrbuch für deutsche Sprache, Litteratur und Kunst. Bd. V. ss. 241-328. Weimar, 1856. 8. [The text of this version is founded upon two MSS. in the Grand Ducal Library at Weimar.] 10. The Czech version. P. R. Andree, Berlin, 1866. 11. Das Volksschauspiel Doctor Johann Faust. Mit geschichtlicher Einleitung. Herausgegeben von Carl Engel. Oldenburg, 1874. Druck und Verlag der Schulzeschen Buchhandlung. (C. Berndt (C. Berndt u. A. Schwartz) [This belongs to, and is the first of a series entitled, "Deutsche Puppenkomödien." It is described as a “Volksschauspiel in vier Acten nebst einem Vorspiel." It is one of the most elaborated of the various versions. Engel is one of the most industrious and, as far as I am able to judge, one of the most accurate investigators in this curious field of German literature. In the same year, 1874, another edition of his Puppet-play was published at Oldenburg, containing, in addition, a valuable Zusammenstellung der Literatur der Faustsage von 1510 bis Mitte 1873.'] 12. Doctor Faust. Schauspiel in drei Akten. Handschrift nach d. MS. des Schauspielers E. Wiepking. Deutsche Puppenkomödien VIII. Oldenburg, 1879. [Ed. Carl Engel. Performed by Weipking at Oldenburg in 1865. The same volume of the Deutsche Puppenkomödien contains "Die bezauberte Insel;" an adaptation of "The Tempest," I believe, to the Puppet-stage.] 12. Das Schwiegerlingsche Puppenspiel von Doktor Faust zum ersten Male herausgegeben von A. Bielschowsky. Adolf Bänder. Buch-und-Kunsthandlung: Brieg [1882] 4to. [This is a poor and confused version of the Puppet-play 1 A much more complete and accurate catalogue of Faustiana has been published since by Engel. 1885. derived at third or fourth hand from that in the possession of the showmen Schutz and Dreher. It possesses, however, the merit probably of being a more faithful and accurate transcript of the piece, as it was performed by Schutz and Dreher, than the work of Simrock. Bielschowsky in his preface, says: "Herr Schwiegerling, who had been travelling about in East Germany with his Puppet-show, came to Brieg in 1877, and announced the performance of Dr. Faust. The editor applied to him to know if he had a manuscript. He was told no. Schwiegerling very candidly confessed that manuscripts had often been made for the use of assistants, who were ignorant of the piece when they came to his theatre, but that these were lost when the assistants left. For some years past he had only employed, for the performance of the play, members of his family, to whom it was known by heart. He added, “I learned the play from my father, he from his father-in-law, Kleinschneck, and he again from the Puppet-player Dreher. This Dreher was the same person who exhibited Marionette plays with Schutz in North and South Germany." Schwiegerling's statement furnishes at once a possible explanation of the mode in which the exhibitions of the play multiplied, and a curious instance of the way in which the possession of a Puppet-play became a kind of family treasure, descending from father to son for generations. I have known the same sort of thing at home. The other day, in one of the thoroughfares of London, I saw a Punch and Judy show, which, I was informed by the panpipe player, had been in possession of the family of the man who worked the puppets for two hundred years, the man himself having been born in the box on the road! Bielschowsky succeeded, with the aid of a stenographer, in transcribing Schwiegerling's play from the oral performance. Afew gaps which remained were subsequently filled in from the dictation of one of Schwie gerling's sons. In Schwiegerling's play-bill, the piece is called a Volkssage "in 3 Akten und 4 Abtheilungen." The reason why a distinction is drawn between Akten and Abtheilungen, is not, the editor observes, very clear. Nor is it, for in fact there seems to be no distinction drawn between them in the play. It is, however, a curious thing that in old German plays, such as Ayrer's, there were often "Abtheilungen," as well as "Akten," perhaps in imitation of the division into parts of some of the longer Shakespearian dramas. Whether any of Dreher's bills had this curious superfluity as well I do not know. Simrock's version certainly does not preserve it. It was probably peculiar to Schwiegerling, whose bill contains other oddities: eg. under Act I. the spectator is informed that the conjuring of the spirits will take place, whereas, with the exception of a chair, which resolves itself into a devil in order to warn Casperle to stay with Dr. Faust, no evil spirit or fury comes upon the scene until Act II. Bielschowsky's publication bears no date; but the editor in his preface speaks of having a programme of the performance, dated the 27th of September 1880, before him. The catalogue in the British Museum gives the year 1882 as the date of publication. An appendix to the play contains an interesting analysis of three or four of the versions of the Puppet-play, together with transcripts of the dramatis personae from the play-bills of a number of the different Puppet-shows in which performances of "Faust" were given.] In addition to the publications mentioned, quite a number of others of less interest and importance have issued from time to time from the press. DRAMATIZATIONS OF THE FAUST LEGEND PRIOR TO THE APPEARANCE OF GOETHE'S POEM. 1. The Tragicall History of D. Faustus. As it hath bene Acted by the Right Honorable, the Erle of Nottingham his seruants. Written by Ch. Marl. London, Printed by V.S., for Thomas Bushell, 1604 [This is the earliest edition of Marlowe's tragedy yet discovered, and the first known drama founded upon the career of Faust. Upon the authority of a note in MS., by Malone, the play is stated to have been entered in the Stationers' Books on the 7th of January, 1800-1. The first performance in England of which we have authentic information took place in 1594 There is no reason, however, to doubt that the play had been put upon the stage years before that date. It was most probably written in 1587-88.] 2. Justi Placidii, infelix prudentia. Lips. 1598. 8°. [A work of this name, and said to have been composed in Latin iambics, is frequently mentioned by writers upon Faust lore as if it were of undoubted authenticity. Amongst others the author of the interesting article on Faust in the "Encyclopædia Britannica" says boldly of it,-" Another development of the myth was now at hand-the dramatic. It formed the theme of Justi Placidii, infelix prudentia, a play in Latin verse published in 1598." The author of the article in question has probably been led into making this assertion by following, too confidingly, the guidance of some one of the many German writers who, in spite of the general reputation of their countrymen for painstaking research, have caught up and repeated this and other statements in connection with the literature of Faust at second-hand and without inquiry. I entertain the gravest doubts whether such a work ever had any existence. Run to earth, the genesis of this Justus Placidius may be found in a note, by P. A. Budik, in the Serapeum, a periodical which issued for some years from the Leipsic press, and came to a natural end in 1870. Budik (v. Serapeum for 1847, No. 11, p. 175) sets out by describing this work as "until now entirely unknown." He then proceeds to say,-"This tragedy, composed in Latin iambics, is incontestably the first in which the fate of Dr. Faust is brought before us in dramatic form. Upon the whole the poem has merited the neglect of posterity, |