My heartfelt thanks go to David Miller, Ravi Mirchandani, and Arabella Pike, who were all instrumental, in their different ways, in bringing this book to life. And a special thank you, too, to Amanda Katz for transferring that life successfully across the Atlantic.
I am deeply indebted to earlier Marlowe biographers, most notably William Urry, Leslie Hotson, John Bakeless and in particular Charles Nicholl. Their painstaking and serious scholarship has been of great value to me, and I can only hope that they do not thump their desks too hard, or (in some cases) turn in their graves at what I have done with it.
While every effort has been made to trace owners of copyright, I would be happy to rectify any errors or omissions in future editions. I am grateful to the Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, for their assistance with accommodation, and to the staff of the Parker Library at the college for their help and attention to my requests. Dr Mara Kalnins, a Fellow of the college, and Dr Linne Mooney, very kindly gave their permission to reproduce the letter included in Appendix III. Staff at the University of Padua Library, too, were very helpful and tolerant of odd requests.
Roon van Santen generously offered his design services in pursuit of a maverick idea, which Allan Grotjohann superbly put into effect. Frank Wynne came up with ingenious last-minute suggestions. Ton Amir, Sandra Ponzanesi, Massimo Scalabrini, Isabel Cebeiro and Pierre Bouvier all helped in recondite corners of translation. Fausto Schiavetto put me up in Padua, and Vitorina Corte offered refuge when I needed it. Warm thanks to all of them.
But my deepest debt of all is to Hans Nicolai, Gerard van Vuuren and Andrew May, who have borne my obsession with this book for the past three years with fortitude, even giving practical help with research. Anna Arthur, Chris Chambers, Iris Maher and Dheera Sujan have also been stalwart in their support. Without them, the task would have been tough indeed.