“The Finest Edition Of Don Quixote That Has Ever Been Printed”: Ibarra’s Superb 1780 Illustrated Edition, Handsomely Bound 11. CERVANTES. El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, 1780. Four volumes. Quarto, late 19th-century full red morocco gilt. $26,000. Click for more info The magnificent Ibarra Quixote, with engraved portrait of Cervantes, engraved frontispiece in each volume, 31 full-page engraved plates, numerous headpieces, tailpieces and historiated initials, and a double-page map showing Don Quixote’s route through Spain and the sites of his adventures. Text in Spanish. A handsome set in full morocco-gilt. Don Quixote won instant fame for its “variety, liveliness, and gibes at the famous” (PMM). It was this edition, carefully prepared by Spain’s master printer Joaquin de Ibarra, illustrated by artists from the Academia de San Fernando and overseen by Cervantes scholar Vincente de los Ríos, that solidified the novel as part of the literary canon. Ibarra’s “chief fame rests on the Sallust of 1772 and the Don Quixote of 1780 in four volumes, the latter commissioned and supervised by the Spanish Royal Academy. Both are elegant editions, with numerous engraved illustrations, type, paper, and all details Spanish, deliberately made to be national treasures, which, indubitably, they are” (Pierpont Morgan Library, Art of the Printed Book, 28). “The Life of Cervantes” and “Analysis of Don Quixote” by Vicente de los Rios far surpassed all similar biographical sketches and studies of the novel that had been previously published. “The finest edition of Don Quixote that has ever been printed” (Updike II: 73-75). This copy with the frontispiece for Volumes I and II repeated and bound in as the frontispiece for both Volumes I and II, and with frontispiece for Volumes III and IV repeated and bound in as frontispiece for those volumes, as issued. Part I first published in 1605; Part II first published in 1615. Cohen de Ricci 218-219. Palau 52024. Updike II:73-75. Text and plates generally quite clean and fine, expert repairs to most joints. A beautiful copy of this landmark of world literature. “I read [Don Quixote] every year, as some do the Bible.” —William Faulkner February 2022 – 13 – Bauman Rare Books
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