Beschreibung:

Spanish literature. CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, Miguel De. El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha ... Nueva edicion por la Real Academia Espanola. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. 4 volumes, small folio, 300x220 mm; Contemporary binding in marbled Havana veal, richly gilt with tooled borders and spines and with red and green morocco title labels, pink edges. Vol. I: Allegorical Frontispiece engraved by Selma, pp XIV, 2, portrait of Cervantes engraved by Manuel Salvador y Carmona, pp CCXXIV, 200, 6 copper plates engraved by Carmona, Gil. Selma and Moles. Vol. II: Allegorical Frontispiece engraved by Selma, pp 4, 418, 9 plates engraved by Fabregat, Ballester, Carmona and Selma. Vol. III: Allegorical Frontispiece engraved by De la Cruz, pp 2, XIV, 306, 7 plates engraved by Barcelon, Selma, Ballester and Fabregate. Vol. IV: Allegorical Frontispiece engraved by De la Cruz, pp 4, 346, 9 plates engraved by Ballester, Muntaner, Fabregat and Selma, a folded map at the end. Overall, 4 additional engraved title-pages, portrait of the author, 31 engraved plates after Carnicero, Barranco, Brunette, Del Castillo, Ferro and Gil, engraved by various artists, and 1 double-page engraved map. Fine specimen in its original binding.
The most famous edition of Don Quixote in Spanish, a true masterpiece of typographic art. Printed for La Real Academia Española (the Spanish Royal Academy) by Joaquín Ibarra y Marín, this edition was prepared at great expense over the course of seven years for the Real Academia, printed on deluxe paper in a specifically-designed typeface and illustrated by the foremost Spanish artists of the time. To this day it remains a monument of Spanish printing, and a fitting tribute to what many regard as the first modern novel in the Hispanic tradition. Palau: “magnificent, superior in artistic beauty to all others produced in Spain or abroad.” Updike: “"the finest edition of Don Quixote that has ever been printed”." 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. The 31 plates after Carnicero, Barranco, Brunette, Del Castillo, Ferro and Gil, are engraved by Ballester, Barcelon, Fabregat, Gil, Mol, Muntaner, Salvador y Carmona and Selma. The edition chosen by the Fathers of Seville for presentation after the defeat of Napoleon by the English. The choice of this edition as a gift in thanks for rescuing Spain from Napoleon's onslaught is of the greatest importance and suggests the esteem in which the edition was held by the people of Spain. The English bibliomane William Davis wrote in 1821: “the celebrated Ibarra edition is so well known, that I need only refer to M. Paris's sale, 1791, where a copy sold for £16, 16 shillings, and Col. Stanley's, where a copy sold for £17, 6 shillings, 6 pence. The lot is offered with a valid license.