Despite the modern fascination with Marlowe, and in particular with Dr Faustus, there has been no edition of his works which offers original spelling, full textual apparatus, and a detailed commentary. The Oxford English Texts Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe, edited in three volumes, supplies the need for a fully annotated scholarly treatment of the works.

The present volume is devoted to Dr Faustus, which is now edited from the edition of 1604. A new theory of this text and its transmission is presented in an introductory essay, `Dr Faustus, the Textual Problem'; the play is critically discussed in another essay, `Dr Faustus, the Real Problem'. Differing theories of the text are outlined in an appendix, and another appendix selects the substantial passages which make the 1616 edition of the play unlike the 1604 version. Extracts from The English Faustbook, the main source of Marlowe's play, are also appended, and there is a full commentary.