The History of Don-Quixote. The First Parte. The Second Part of the History of the Valorous and Witty Knight-Errant, Don Quixote of the Mancha. Written in Spanish by Michael Cervantes: and now translated into English.
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness": Rare first complete English edition of Cervantes' masterpiece Don Quixote
The History of Don-Quixote. The First Parte. The Second Part of the History of the Valorous and Witty Knight-Errant, Don Quixote of the Mancha. Written in Spanish by Michael Cervantes: and now translated into English.
CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, Miguel de.
$175,000.00
Item Number: 130505
London: Edward Blount, 1620.
Exceedingly rare first complete edition in English of Cervantes’ masterpiece comprising the second edition of the first part and the first edition of the second part. Octavo, 2 volumes bound in full 19th century calf, engraved title in each volume. Translated from the original Spanish by Thomas Shelton whose first English translation published in 1612 was the first translation in any language and took him only forty days to complete. The true first edition of Don Quixote was published in Madrid by Francisco de Robles in two parts in 1605 and 1615. Shelton’s first English translation first appeared in English in 1612, and was reissued in 1620 along with the first edition of the second part; the engraved title present in both volumes here was created for the second part, and is not present in all copies of the reissued first part. Both volumes are in near fine condition. (Pforzheimer 140; Grolier Langland to Wither 213). In near fine condition.
Often cited as the first modern novel, Cervantes' masterpiece Don Quixote remains not only the most influential work of literature to emerge from the Spanish Golden Age, but the most important work of the entire Spanish literary canon. For its influence, innovation and critical status, it is "to Spanish literature what Shakespeare is to English" (Bloom) and has become globally regarded as "one of those universal works which are read by all ages at all times" (PMM). The Shelton translation is generally considered the English translation that "realizes Cervantes' manner more nearly than any successor." (DNB). “It is interesting to realize that the first modern novel was composed by a sick, aged and impoverished man, who believed that a satirical tale might produce more revenue than the poems and plays that he regarded as his more serious mission. Under the guise of a parody on romances of chivalry, Cervantes created a study of reality and illusion, madness and sanity, that links him with such acute 16th-century students of psychology as Erasmus, Rabelais, Montaigne, and Shakespeare” (Folger’s Choice 30).
