El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha.

Rare first Brussels edition and seventh edition overall of the first part of Cervantes' unparalleled masterpiece, considered the most finely printed of the editions to date (from initial publication in Madrid in 1605 until this printing of 1607) and the edition that introduced the text to Northern Europe. Octavo, finely bound in full early mottled calf, morocco spine label lettered in gilt, elaborate gilt tooling to the spin in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges speckled red. Don Quixote won immediate fame when first printed in 1605 for its ‘variety, liveliness, and gibes at the famous.’ Its subdued pathos and universal humanity have assured it a place as 'one of those universal works which are read by all ages at all times' (PMM). It quickly went through numerous editions, translations, and piracies. This edition is the seventh overall, the first printed outside of the Iberian Peninsula, and the edition that introduced the text to Northern Europe. In very good condition. Lacking 13 leaves (X2, Z4-Z5, Gg2-Gg7, Nn8): three of dedicatory verses from the preliminaries, and 10 from the main text. Small autograph note dated 1909 with bibliographic comments affixed to front pastedown; two blank portions of title page repaired, *8 torn into text and neatly repaired, with no loss of text. A beautiful example of this very rare and significant edition of Cervantes' masterpiece. Editions of Don Quixote printed during Cervantes’s lifetime are the crown jewel of Spanish book-collecting, as the four Folios of Shakespeare are to English book-collecting.