Beschreibung:

CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, Miguel de (1557-1616). El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha . Madrid: Juan de la Cuesta, 1608. 4° (196 x 138mm). Woodcut printer's device on title, historiated and ornamental initials. (Corner of third leaf discreetly repaired with a few words replaced, minor repair to Ll8, small holes expertly repaired in first 3 leaves, faint marginal dampstain.) Contemporary Spanish limp vellum, spine dyed purple and gilt (missing fore-edge ties, losses at spine); modern dark green morocco solander box. Provenance : John Cecil, Earl of Exeter and Baron Burghley (presumably the 4th Earl, 1628-1678; armorial bookplate) -- Louis H. Silver (booklabel; gift to the Newberry Library, Chicago) -- [Newberry Library duplicate sale, Sotheby's, 8 November 1965, lot 61, £450 to Ross]. Third Cuesta edition, corrected, in the opinion of the work's most recent and authoritative editor Rico, by the author. The 1608 edition is therefore the last edition corrected by the author. The extent of authorial intervention in the 1608 edition has long exercised scholars, but even the most doubting editors acknowledge that the alterations made to the 1608 must be recorded in order to establish a difinitive critical edition. The second part of Don Quixote was not published until 1615. Cf. Francisco Rico's critical ed. for the Instituto Cervantes, 1998. Benages & Fonbuena, Bib. Cervantica , 9; Catalogo Colectivo del patrimonio Bibliografico Español (1992), 3615; Palau 51982.