<P> Johann Spies (ca . 1540 - 1623) was a German printer who published an anonymous book of tales about a legendary Doctor Faust who made a pact with the Devil . The story became the basis for several notable literary works, including Marlowe's Tragedy of Doctor Faustus and Goethe's Faust . </P> <P> Spies published the book in 1587 in Frankfurt am Main under the title Historia von D. Johann Fausten . The book is a compendium of anecdotes about a professor of theology and medicine who undertakes the study of sorcery, forms an alliance with the Devil (in the form of a friar named Mephistopheles), and undergoes a series of fantastic adventures . In the end, Faust is punished for his sins when Satan torments him and takes his soul to hell . </P>

Spies faustbuch was a booklet published by whom