Books

First printing of the celebrated Ibarra edition. Printed for La Real Academia Española (the Spanish Royal Academy) by Joaquín Ibarra y Marín, this edition was intended to be a supreme example of Spanish craftsmanship lavished on the nation's greatest literary work. This edition excels in beauty of type, design, paper, illustration and printing, as well as incorporating a carefully edited and corrected text. The illustrations and delightful ornaments were designed by the best Spanish artists of the day, the paper was milled expressly for this edition, and the type was specially cut. It contains the first map depicting the route taken by Don Quixote and Sancho Panza through Spain. The edition's fame among bibliophiles was thoroughly established throughout Europe within a few years. Four volumes, quarto (302 x 222 mm). Contemporary Spanish green mottled calf, twin red morocco labels, gilt floral decoration to compartments, inset brown calf lozenge to covers with gilt borders, marbled endpapers, gilt edges. 4 engraved title pages, portrait of Cervantes, and 31 plates after Carnicero, Barranco, Brunette, Del Castillo, Ferro and Gil, engraved by Ballester, Barcelon, Fabregat, Gil, Mol, Muntaner, Salvador y Carmona and Selam, engraved map, engraved ornamental i Lower margin of frontispiece of vol. I sometime renewed (not affecting image). Expert restoration to joints and extremities, inset calf repair to covers, light damp discoloration to endpapers, some foxing to contents, a few faint running peripheral minor stains, more substantial staining at end of vol. IV. A very good copy in a handsome contemporary Spanish binding. .

"Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes is a seminal work in Western literature, often regarded as the first modern novel. Published in two parts, the first in 1605 and the second in 1615, it tells the story of Alonso Quixano, a middle-aged gentleman from the region of La Mancha in central Spain. Obsessed with the chivalric romances of the Middle Ages, he loses his sanity and decides to become a knight-errant, renaming himself Don Quixote. He chooses a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, promising him the governorship of an island. The duo embarks on a series of adventures, with Don Quixote seeking to right wrongs and bring justice to the world, driven by his absurdly outdated moral code and understanding of reality. The novel is famous for its satirical examination of the discrepancy between Quixote's fantasy world and the actual world of 17th-century Spain. This theme is most famously illustrated in the episode where Don Quixote fights windmills, mistaking them for giant monsters. Throughout their journeys, the pair encounters thieves, prostitutes, a chain gang, and various other characters, often causing more harm than good in their attempts to help. "Don Quixote" explores themes of truth and justice, the transition from the old world to the new, and the idea of madness versus sanity. Cervantes employs a narrative structure that includes stories within stories, allowing him to critique the social and literary conventions of his time. The novel has had a profound influence on the development of prose fiction and is considered a precursor to the modern novel. It is celebrated for its humor, moral integrity, and its deep humanity, offering a complex reflection on the nature of reality and the importance of empathy.