Lot 317
Cervantes y Saavedra, Miguel
The History of the most Ingenious Knight Don Quixote de la Mancha
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 21 June 2023 at 11:00 BST
Description
Formerly made English by Thomas Shelton; now revis'd, corrected, and partly new translated from the Original. By Captain John Stevens ... In Two Volumes [And:] A Continuation of the Comical History of the most Ingenious Knight, Don Quixote de la Mancha. By the Licentiate Alonzo Fernandez de Avellaneda. Being a Third Volume; never before printed in English ... Translated by Captain John Stevens. London: for R. Chiswell [and others], [A Continuation:] for Jeffrey Wale; and John Senex, 1700 & 1705. 2 works in 3 volumes, 8vo (18.2 x 11.2cm), c.1800 calf, rebacked with original spines laid down, edges sprinkled blue, History with 34 engraved plates including frontispieces, Continuation with 13 engraved plates (no count provided by ESTC), moderately browned, closely trimmed along top edges, a few headlines and page-numbers shaved [ESTC R29188 & T89686]
Footnote
Note: First edition of this rare English translation of Don Quixote, and the first edition in English of the spurious continuation by the pseudonymous Alonson Fernandez de Avellaneda. John Stevens (c.1662-1726) was a London-born translator, antiquary and Jacobite army officer of probable Spanish origin. ESTC traces nine copies world-wide for The History; no other first edition set (with or without the continuation) is traced in auction records.