National Library of Australia - Home page
Treasures From The Worlds Great Libraries
Tolkien's The Hobbit Shelley's Ozymandias Japanese woodblock prints Jane Austen's Persuasion Roman de la rose Don Quixote The Tale of Genji The Canterbury Tales Hans Christian Andersen
PEOPLE & POLITICS EXPLORATION SCIENCE & INVENTIONS MUSIC LITERATURE & ART RELIGION WORDS & LANGUAGE
click to enlarge

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547–1616)
Vida y hechos del ingenioso caballero Don Quixote de la Mancha  1771
Courtesy of the Biblioteca Nacional. Madrid

 

click to visit Library
Biblioteca Nacional de Espana
Madrid
Spain

Cervantes' Don Quixote
1771

Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra is Spain's best known literary figure, and his creation, Don Quixote, is also world famous. Don Quixote, the elderly nobleman confused by reading too many chivalric romances, sets out on his old horse Rosinante, with the down-to-earth Sancho Panza as his companion, to 'defend the oppressed and to right wrongs'. Intended as a satire on the medieval chivalric romances which had so misled Don Quixote, the novel's realistic representation of characters and events contrasts with Don Quixote's inability to distinguish between reality and illusion. At the same time, the author demonstrates that the real world itself is complex and ambiguous.

Don Quixote was published in two parts: the first appeared in 1605, and was an instant triumph. The European novel literary form was said to have begun with Don Quixote. The name 'Quixote' was used in the first edition, but thereafter the name was usually spelt 'Quijote'.  The form 'Quixote' has persisted in the English-speaking world, however, and has entered the language in the term 'quixotic', which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as 'striving with lofty enthusiasm for visionary ideals'.

The novel was reprinted five times within a year of its publication, and Cervantes published the second part in 1615. It has since been translated into over 60 languages, and many versions of the story have been created: plays, ballet, opera, musical and film.

The late eighteenth-century renaissance of the Spanish graphic arts was amply demonstrated in this edition, with its magnificent typefaces, excellent paper and impeccable printing. Unfortunately the text and illustrations were not of such high quality. Despite its faults, however, the publication was a serious attempt to produce a finely printed edition of the best known work of Spain's most famous literary figure.