B A U M A N R A R E B O O K S J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 5 6 * * * A CORNERSTONE OF THE WESTERN CANON: THE FIRST COMPLETE EDITION IN ENGLISH OF DON QUIXOTE, 1620, THE FIRST AND GREATEST TRANSLATION OF CERVANTES’ MASTERPIECE 6. CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, Miguel de. (SHELTON, Thomas, translator). The History of Don-Quichote. The first parte. Printed for Ed: Blount [1620]. WITH: 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 [By Thomas Shelton]. London, 1620. Two volumes. 12mo, 19th-century full reddish-brown morocco gilt; custom clamshell box. $125,000 The rare first appearance of both parts of Don-Quixote in English, the earliest obtainable edition in English of the entire work: the second edition in English of the First Part and the first edition in English of the Second Part. From the Regiate Priory, home of Lady Isabella Caroline, Lady Henry Somerset, notable 19th-century temperance advocate. A splendid copy of a cornerstone of the Western canon. “A universal classic and arguably the greatest book ever written in Spanish… 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). Although the First Part of Don-Quixote was originally published in 1612, only a handful of copies survive. In 1607 Thomas Shelton, “acquiring a knowledge of Spanish, at the request of ‘a very deere friend that was desirous to understand the subject,’ translated the first part of the Historie of Don-Quixote. The first part of Cervantes’ novel originally appeared at Madrid early in 1605. Shelton used a reprint of the original Spanish [for his translation]… But after his friend had glanced at his rendering Shelton cast it aside, where it lay ‘for a long time neglected in a corner.’ At the end of four or five years, ‘at the entreaty of friends, Shelton was content to let it come to light.’ The book immediately achieved the popularity that Cervantes’ work has always retained in [England]. References to episodes in Don Quixote’s story were soon frequent in English literature… Very few copies of the original edition of Shelton’s translation of the first part survive; a 1943 census recorded only 17 copies.” In 1615 Cervantes published in Madrid his second part of Don-Quixote and this appeared in English in 1620 for the first time, also translated by Shelton. Bound without the additional engraved title to the second part, as usual. Bookplates of Isabel Somerset, Regiate Priory. Contemporary owner signatures. A few instances of contemporary ink marginalia. Light marginal dampstaining to last few leaves of Volume II. Only a few leaves cropped close, affecting gathering markings, printed marginalia and catchwords; main text unaffected. A splendid copy, very nearly fine, extraordinarily scarce and important.
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