VThe Wagner Book
The Wagner Book
Thefirst edition of the German Wagner book was published anonymously, without mention even of its place of origin, in 1593, under a title of which the following is a translation:—
Second part of D. Johann Faust’s History, in which is described the Pact of Christopher Wagner, Faust’s former Disciple, contracted with the Devil, called Auerhan, who appeared to him in the form of an Ape, also his adventurous Ribaldries and Pranks, which he performed with the Aid of the Devil, and fearful End which at last overtook him.Together with an excellent Description of the New Isles, what People live therein, what Fruits grow there, what Religion and Idol-worship they have there, and how they are captured by the Spaniards, all drawn from his posthumous Writings and, for it is very amusing to read, put into Print. By Fridericus Schotus Tolet: Now at P. 1593.
Second part of D. Johann Faust’s History, in which is described the Pact of Christopher Wagner, Faust’s former Disciple, contracted with the Devil, called Auerhan, who appeared to him in the form of an Ape, also his adventurous Ribaldries and Pranks, which he performed with the Aid of the Devil, and fearful End which at last overtook him.
Together with an excellent Description of the New Isles, what People live therein, what Fruits grow there, what Religion and Idol-worship they have there, and how they are captured by the Spaniards, all drawn from his posthumous Writings and, for it is very amusing to read, put into Print. By Fridericus Schotus Tolet: Now at P. 1593.
Unlike the publisher of the Faust book, the author of the Wagner book appears to have taken all precautions to hide his identity, for Fridericus Schotus is a pseudonym, and Tolet is Toledo, where there were supposed to be celebrated schools of magic. At theend of his book the author declares that he has translated from a Spanish original, printed seventy years ago, which he received from a Brother Martin of the Order of St. Benedict. That is obviously false, since the Faust legend did not exist in 1523, and certainly could not have been in print in Spain. The author also declares that he has refrained from saying anything that might be considered detrimental to the Church of Rome, but this promise he has not kept very successfully. In an edition which appeared in the following year, the town of origin is given as “Gerapoli,” which is fictitious and may contain an anagram of “Prague,” since the first edition states that it was published at “P.”
The Wagner story is essentially a paraphrase of the Faust legend, and the author keeps to the outline of his hero’s character which is given in the Faust book. The sole difference is in some of the external incidents.
The English Wagner book was licensed about six months after the German Wagner book, according to an entry in the Stationers’ Registers under the 16th of November, 1593, and the date on the title-page is 1594. It isnota translation of the German Wagner book, but an extremely faint imitation, into which the author has introduced many new details. He appears only to have taken the basic idea, though there are occasional quotations from the German book, and it is practically an independent work. The 1680 edition was, in fact, translated into German and published in Scheible’sKloster.
William Rose.
1925.