L’ingénieux hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche

Miguel de Cervantès Saavedra’s masterpiece becomes a wonder of Romantic bookmaking, in four opulent editions. Described as Nos. 104-108 of our Catalogue No. 83, Univers Romantique

Cervantes’ seminal early 17th century novel became not only one of the most famous books of the Romantic period, but the French translations in particular also constituted a change in the reception of Don Quichotte.

The collection includes three copies of the rare first edition of Louis Viardot’s translation in two volumes, with vignettes illustrated by Tony Johannot, published in Paris by J.J. Dubochet et Cie, Librairie Paulin, 1836-1837. Two of the copies are printed on China paper and thus outrageously rare. All three copies include four woodcut frontispieces, two of which are on China paper, as well as 800 text woodcuts by Johannot.

All three are bound in beautiful contemporary leather bindings, signed by the artists: one in night-blue calf leather with gold ornamentation by Messier, one in red full morocco with gold ornamentation by Chambolle-Duru, and one in a dark green chagrin leather by Schaeck, with gold ornamentation (bound in the year of its publication).

Furthermore, the collection includes another very rare copy of Cervantes’ Don Quichotte (1848) with illustrations by Grandville in an extraordinarily opulent gauffered and heavily gilt binding, also designed by Grandville.

For more information, please see Catalogue No. 83 Univers Romantique, available in the online shop