An exceptionally handsome set of the complete four volumes of Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote, originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615. The Spanish masterpiece as the first modern novel. If the history of philosophy can be described as Plato plus commentary, the history of the Western novel may said to be Quixote and adaptation. Int its satirization of the popular chivalric romances of the Renaissance through the tragicomic adventures of a delusional country gentleman and his pragmatic squire, Sancho Panza, Cervantes established essential narrative techniques, such as literary realism, meta-fictional self-awareness, and complex character development, that permanently transformed prose fiction.
The 1895 four-volume edition published by Adam and Charles Black contains the refined, corrected "new edition" of Henry Edward Watts's celebrated English translation. Departing from earlier, overly loose translations of the 17th and 18th century, Watts' translation was attentive to scholarly concerns and leaned in favor of rigorous fidelity to Cervantes's original Spanish text. The whole is accompanied by extensive biographical, textual, and historical annotations.
An excellent edition for the historically sensitive reader.
Cervantes, Miguel de. The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha. Done into English by Henry Edward Watts. A New Edition with Notes, Original and Selected. In Four Volumes. London. Adam and Charles Black. 1895. 43 + 370 + 413 + 422 + 413pp.
Very good in original quarter calf bindings with red cloth boards, and red linen endpapers. Some light rubbing at extremities and a few minor surface abrasions to the spines as shown. Very attractive, crisp, and clean.
