Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel De [Trans. Thomas Shelton].

THE HISTORY OF DON-QUICHOTE [DON QUIXOTE]

London: Printed for Ed Blount, 1620. First Edition. Hardcover. First complete edition in English (second edition of the first part, first edition of the second) and the first translation period. Translated by Thomas Shelton. Two small quarto volumes in eights (7 x 5 3/8 inches; 180 x 137 mm. ; from K1 in the second part the size changes to 6 5/8 x 4 1/2 inches; 168 x 120 mm. ). [24], 572, [4]; [16], 504 pp. Engraved title-page in Part One supplied in facsimile; only printed title for Part Two. Without the initial blank in Part I and the final blank in Part II. The last printed leaf in the second part is supplied in both an early manuscript version and in a modern fine facsimile. Trimmed a little close at the bottom margin from signature M on in the second part with occasional loss of a catchword. Late 18th century full calf with green morocco gilt spine label. Small piece of restoration at the upper front joint. Overall, a clean and tight copy of one of the masterpieces of world literature. The translator, Shelton, did not use the original Madrid edition of the First Part of Cervantes' masterpiece, but a version published in the original Spanish in Brussels in 1607. Shelton's translation of the First Part of the novel was published while Cervantes was still alive. On the appearance of the Brussels imprint of the Second Part of Don Quixote in 1616, the year of Cervantes' death, Shelton translated that also into English, completing his task in 1620, and printing at the same time a revised edition of the First Part, Both offered here). Although it was not until 1892 that a copy of the 1612 edition of the first part was identified, scholars had for some time recognized that the story of Don Quixote was familiarly known and popular in England during the decade preceding 1620. As owners of the 1612 edition of the first part would not desire copies of the reprint it is not unlikely that Blount caused a smaller number of copies of the latter to be printed than the first edition of the second part. At any rate, fewer copies appear to have survived (Pforzheimer). Published in two volumes a decade apart (in 1605 and 1615) , Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature to emerge from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published. Grolier, Langland to Wither, 213. Pforzheimer 140. Housed in a full-leather custom slipcase. Additional photos available upon request. . (Item #108)