<P> The early Faust chapbook , while in circulation in northern Germany , found its way to England , where in 1592 an English translation was published , The Historie of the Damnable Life , and Deserved Death of Doctor Iohn Faustus credited to a certain `` P.F. , Gent ( leman ) '' . Christopher Marlowe used this work as the basis for his more ambitious play , The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus ( published c. 1604 ) . Marlowe also borrowed from John Foxe 's Book of Martyrs , on the exchanges between Pope Adrian VI and a rival pope . </P>
what 16th century english playwright wrote the first literary version of the faust legend
Christopher Marlowe