Beschreibung:

CERVANTES SAAVREDA, MIGUEL de El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha ... Nueva Edicion Corregida por la Real Academia Espanola. Madrid: Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. First Spanish Royal Academy Edition. Four volumes, full red morocco of the period, likely by an English binder, covers edged with one broad and two thin fillets, spine in six compartments between doubled raised bands, the space between bands onlaid with black morocco with a roll in gilt, lettered in the second, third and fifth compartments, the remaining compartments with an octagonal floral tool, dentelles with a roll of lines and a circular motif, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. 11 3/4 x 8 7/8 inches (30 x 22.5 cm); printed title, [3], xiv, ccxxiv, 199, [1] pp.; [4], 418 pp.; [2], xiv, 306 pp.; [4], 346 pp.; with the four engraved titles, portrait, 31 plates, the folding map, and numerous finely engraved head- and tail-pieces and initials. Some corners slightly bruised, three spines with a single small wormhole at the lower joint, light wear. Within, generally an extremely fresh copy, almost entirely without foxing. With the early bookplate of William Williams of Tregulow and Etta Mary Arnold Clark. Ibarra's remarkable edition of Don Quixote was widely acknowledged throughout Europe as a typographic masterpiece, and English bibliophiles adopted it as an example of fine typography on a par with that of Baskerville. Thus it makes a good deal of sense for the binding to be English work, which this certainly appears to be; very similar bindings can be found on copies of Baskerville's larger works. A magnificent edition, this lavishly illustrated edition of Don Quixote was based on the 1605 second edition, which at this time was considered the first. The edition was printed using a specially designed type on paper especially made in Catalonia. Palau described the work as "Magnifica edicion y superior en belleza artistica a todas las que hasta entonces se habian hecho en Espana y en el extranjero." Palau 52024; Cohen-de Ricci 218-19. C