Publisher's Synopsis
Zeigler (1857-1935) was a lawyer and writer who is best known for founding the Marlovian theory of Shakespeare authorship in the preface and notes to his 1895 novel "It Was Marlowe," subtitled A Story of the Secret of Three Centuries. In his preface he comments on the then-popular Baconian theory that Francis Bacon was the true author of Shakespeare's works, arguing that the two authors were very different, and putting forward his alternative suggestion that Christopher Marlowe, who is recorded to have been killed in a fight in 1593, faked his death. He points out similarities between Marlowe's and Shakespeare's styles and notes the fact that the latter's career began simultaneously with the end of Marlowe's in 1593. Zeigler also wrote on the history of Ohio, the culture of North Carolina, and the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 of which he was a survivor.
