Typing "Christopher Marlowe" into any search engine will of course produce a mass of information about him - well over 400,000 hits on Google in fact. Whether this may also be accurately called a 'wealth' of information, however, is perhaps rather more debatable, as so much of what has been posted about him (and uncritically copied by others) is wrong. I have therefore picked out just a few sites which might be of a little more interest, and have added some of my own comments below. At the moment (although I would be very happy to discuss any claim that I am wrong!) I believe that my own biography of Marlowe is probably one of the only ones currently available on-line without at least one or two fairly serious errors.

http://www.marlowe-society.org/

The website of the U.K. Marlowe Society. This site seemed formerly to be mainly a vehicle for the promotion of the somewhat unorthodox ideas of the late A. D. ('Dolly') Wraight and of her books. Efforts have been made to return to reflecting the Society's true objects, however, and away from appearing to be a "Marlowe-was-Shakespeare" group. This is a great improvement, and for anyone with an interest in Marlowe, it is well worth following up. The equivalent society in the States, The Marlowe Society of America has a site which is strictly orthodox, and tends to cover news of Marlowe-related functions and publications rather than providing information about his life and works.

Dedicated almost entirely to the case for Marlowe as the author of Shakespeare's works, Carlo DiNota's blog "The Marlowe-Shakespeare Connection" has rapidly become one of the best places on the web for new articles on the subject.

Arising mainly from an informal grouping of people who have contributed articles to the above, a fledgling 'International Marlowe-Shakespeare Society' totally committed to the 'Marlovian' authorship position has recently formed, and their still evolving website provides accurate information and well-reasoned argument in support of the theory.

If you are interested in seeing the works in their original spelling, the Tufts University site is the best source. They can be downloaded only one scene at a time, however.

Texts of the plays (other than Edward II and Dido Queen of Carthage) are available at Zimmermann's Encyclopædia of Self site. These are also accompanied by a glossary and notes, but the glossary - although hyperlinked - is not related to the context, and the notes, most irritatingly, are not hyperlinked to the text.

A fairly reasonable list of Marlowe-related books is available at the Luminarium Book Store's site. Not as up to date as it should be (nothing later than 1999), so for anything more recent, perhaps it's best to go to somewhere like http://www.bookfinder.com/ and search for books with "Marlowe" in the title (or "Christopher Marlowe" if you want to avoid all the Raymond Chandler ones!)

A fairly comprehensive list of fictional books about Marlowe has been assembled by an amateur enthusiast, Elisabeth Riba, and has quite a lot of useful comments.

This is the site associated with Mike Rubbo's filmed documentary putting the case for Marlowe's survival and subsequent authorship of Shakespeare's works. Numerous interviews with people on either side of the debate.

Dave Kathman and Terry Ross's site "dedicated to the proposition that Shakespeare Wrote Shakespeare". It mainly opposes the theory that the Earl of Oxford wrote the works, but provides a good antidote for anyone harbouring doubts in this area. An essay, How We Know That Shakespeare Wrote Shakespeare is particularly helpful, there are many links for anyone interested in the authorship question, and also a very useful Biographical Dictionary compiled by Dave Kathman.

Peter Farey, 2009

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