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Home , Amadis de Gaula, Don Quichotte, Miguel de Cervantes, Ruler (horse), The Most Illustrious

DON QUIXOTE A Quatercentenary Celebration of theMan of LaMancha

CHAPIN LIBRARY · WILLIAMS COLLEGE 14 MARCH - 29 APRIL 2005 HIS YEAR marks the 400th anniversary The original idea for this exhibition came from of the publication of Part I of Quixote, a class on I am currently teaching, and T undoubtedly ’s most significant contri- grew to include a few more works than originally bution to European and world literature. It is hard intended. The project has been instructive yet chal- to imagine that readers everywhere have not heard lenging, but it has brought the reading of Cervantes’ of Don Quixote and his companion Panza, classic alive in ways that only a book collection such as of their adventures across the dry plains of La Chapin’s can. To this library, I owe a note of gratitude. Mancha fighting giants and tending to those in need. Historians refer to the period in which Miguel George A. Abdelnour de Cervantes wrote as Spain’s Golden Age, for its Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish remarkable artistic creativity and innovation as well as its imperial expansion across the globe. Classic [All items are the gift of Alfred C. Chapin, Class of 1869, figures of the time include the playwright Lope de unless otherwise noted. The notes are presented here in Vega and the mystic Saint Teresa, but also Diego de the order of the cases in the exhibition.] Velázquez in the field of painting. Ironically, Don Quixote viewed himself as living in decadent times, O and the whole of Don Quixote chronicles his vain attempt to restore a more courteous, more peaceful past as he imagined it. This is Don Quixote’s ideal- Saavedra, 1547-1616 istic nature, the source of his tragedy and appeal El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha even now. En : por , vendese en casa de Visitors to the Chapin Library exhibit may notice Francisco de Robles, librero del Rey nr¯o señor, 1605 the relevance of Don Quixote to our own times. Not only is the ’s realistic familiar to us, but Part I of Don Quixote was published to unprece- its political concerns and overall world-view ring dented success. Cervantes’ craft is apparent in the remarkably contemporary. Among other things, novel’s encyclopedic scope: everything from Scripture Don Quixote is a meditation on the true meaning to the Classics, including pastoral litera- of love, on feminism, on the role of religion in public ture, is paid homage in one way or another. But it is life, on censorship and torture. It is also, as I see it, for its parody of the popular romances of a participant in that centuries-long conversation that the novel is particularly known. As such, Don between Islam and Christianity, on clashes of Quixote is both a work of fiction and a work of civilizations and interreligious dialogue. literary criticism, playfully passing judgment on The Chapin Library’s collection of Don Quixote literary convention and taste. By poking fun at is special. It includes many rare editions, many of official censorship, the novel celebrates free expres- them illustrated, some in translation. It is striking sion. By ridiculing the fantastic element in the to see how the Quixote we read today is in fact a romances of chivalry, it implies that literature has product of centuries of editorial adjustment, of a role to play in representing life in all its contra- typographic errors and revision, of liberal and strict dictions and unsightliness. interpretations of what Cervantes may or may not The first printing of Don Quixote apparently have intended to say in a given passage or episode. contained many typographic and organizational We are also fortunate to see as part of the collection errors, some of which were “fixed” by Cervantes some of Cervantes’ literary influences, cited through- in the second edition, also published in 1605, thus out the novel, that include sixteenth-century versions making it an authoritative source for future printings. of and Palmerín de Oliva, the Celes- One purported error involves the episode in which tina and Orlando Furioso, and more importantly, Sancho’s ass is stolen by the picaroon Ginés de the first complete Spanish Bible. Pasamonte: in the second edition, an example of

1 which is shown here, some of the confusion ensuing Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 from the mule’s sudden reappearance is resolved. These supposed mishaps, however, should be El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha taken with a grain of salt. While critics have been En Valencia: Impresso con licencia, en casa de quick to point out Cervantes’ carelessness, it is also Pedro Patricio Mey, a costa de Jusepe Ferrer plausible that by knowingly incorporating errors mercader de libros, delante la Disputacion, 1605 Cervantes was imitating (and thus satirizing) the As an hidalgo (literally, “son of someone” presumably inaccuracies of the chivalric romances that were of high rank) Don Quixote’s economic well-being had his main preoccupation. basically dwindled by the time the events in the novel take place. Income from his property, the opening pages of the novel tell us, is barely sufficient for Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 humble meals and general upkeep. His household Segunda Parte del Ingenioso Cavallero staff consists of a nagging housekeeper and a page, Don Quixote de la Mancha and the only evidence of familial relations is that of En Madrid: por Juan de la Cuesta, vendese en casa his young niece. Little is known about his forbears, de Francisco de Robles, librero del Rey N.S., 1615 except that he is descended from caballeros. An often repeated word in the novel used to describe Don In Part II Cervantes made a slight change in the title: Quixote is “dry,” simultaneously referring to his barren Don Quixote is no longer described as an hidalgo but old age and the desert-like landscape of La Mancha, as a knight-errant (caballero). This new accolade is as well as the word’s Renaissance association with clearly ironic, since the hidalgos were lower noblemen folly and madness. Lending his story an air of legends, and were themselves descendents of the once-privi- Don Quixote’s authentic name was a matter for leged “caballeros.” As such, Don Quixote’s newly- speculation, either “Quijana” or “Quesada”, the latter earned title is an orderly inversion, indicative of Don a mocking reference to the Spanish word for “cheese.” Quixote’s rise in rank and of the public’s esteem for This quite early edition of Don Quixote hails him. from Valencia, 200 miles southeast of Madrid, In the ten-year interval between Parts I and II which shows the commercial success of the novel of Don Quixote a Spaniard by the name of Alonso almost immediately upon its appearance. It restores Fernández de Avellaneda published a continuation the missing Pasamonte passage, from which it is of the novel, the so-called “false” Don Quixote (1614). clear that this version followed the second printing While it was not uncommon for sixteenth-century of Juan de la Cuesta. writers to continue each other’s works (Amadís is the proud patriarch of a long of books), the practice infuriated Cervantes. To be fair, Cervantes Patent of (Carta executoria) was unclear whether the of 1605 would be Quixote Manuscript on vellum followed by a Part II; in fact, at the end of the novel Granada, 19 December 1622 he seemed to imply that it would not. Avellaneda so jarred Cervantes, though, that the Quixote Part II This patent of nobility from the early years of the is as much a continuation of our hero’s exploits as reign of Philip IV of Spain was extended at the a denunciation of Avellanaeda’s boldness, a duel request of Luis de Soto Morillo and Francisco de Cervantes apparently won, as Avellaneda’s book Soto. It includes seignorial rights to the village of did not see a second printing until 1732. Velalcazar. It is a fine example of a type of document which was often essential in Spanish society in the seventeenth century, when what was called limpieza de sangre (literally, “purity of blood”) insured the attainment of worldly honors. A thorough investi-

2 gation of the forebears of the de Sotos has been Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 completed by a king-of-arms, who has issued a duly notarized and profusely illustrated book justifying El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha the use of a coat of arms of nobility by the de Sotos En Brusselas: por Roger Velpius Impressor de sus and their descendants. Altezas, en l’Aguila de oro, cerca de Palacio, 1607 The popular imagination has created an image of Don Quixote as a desperate madman given to flights Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 of fancy, but his character is far more complex, while El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha his moral world-view is persistently idealistic. As En Valencia: Impresso con licencia, en casa de the novel advances we become familiar with a Don Pedro Patricio Mey, a costa de Jusepe Ferrer Quixote whose professed task is to serve those in mercader de libros, delante la Disputacion, 1605 distress, the abused young shepherd he encounters early on, or the many women confronting a hard- Jose Vicente del Olmo, 1611-1696 hitting male-dominated society. As he sees it, the contemporary world (which he terms an “iron” age) Relacion Historica del Auto Feneral de Fe, que se Celebro is more than anything in need of selfless knights to en Madrid Este Ano de 1680, con Assistencia del Rey return to a golden past in which peace and justice N.S. Carlos II, y de las Magestades de la Reina N.S. reigned, women were honored, and the selfishness y la Augustissima Reina Madre, siendo Inquisidor of ownership was unheard of. General del excelent. mo sr. D. Diego Sarmiento de This is the first Spanish-language edition of the Valladares . . . : Refierense con curiosi Puntualidad todas Quixote to be published outside of Spain, aside from las circunstancias de tan Glorioso Triunfo de la Fe Portugal which did not gain its independence from Madrid: Vendese en casa de Marcos de Ondatigui . . . Spain until 1640. Impresso por Roque Rico de Miranda, 1680

Don Quixote is a veritable encyclopedia of references Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 to literary history, a subject that receives its fullest El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha treatment in Chapter 6, in which the village priest En Madrid: por Ivan de la Cuesta, vendese en casa de zealously sacks Don Quixote’s home library. Books Francisco de Robles, librero del Rey nr¯o señor, 1608 of dubious moral character are diligently (with the full support of the small-town housekeeper and It is often remarked that Don Quixote’s view of niece) heaped into a pile for burning, their title women was highly advanced for its age. It is more characters figuratively burned at the stake for their accurate, perhaps, to think of the novel as a parody fictional heresies and for causing Don Quixote’s of literary misogyny, especially the medieval variety flight from reason. which rendered woman an idealized love object for Censorship and control of knowledge by the men to behold. Not so Marcela, the independent- Inquisition is explicitly mocked in the novel. In minded and much celebrated character who escapes cracking the whip against heretics, the Inquisition to the countryside disguised as a shepherdess in established autos-de-fe, public spectacles in which search of freedom. In her often-cited speech on the trials were held, verdicts issued, and punishment occasion of Grisóstomo’s funeral, she chides those administered against dissenting voices, especially who unfairly blame women for men’s love-sickness. in matters of Church doctrine. It is not the duty of women, she retorts, to unthink- ingly return men’s love if the feeling is not mutual. Other interesting women characters include Luscinda and Dorotea, Zoraida, and of course the quintessence of beauty as Don Quixote sees it, his own Dulcinea.

3 This 1608 Don Quixote is considered a cleaner Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 version of previous editions, incorporating as it does many of the corrections of Cuesta’s second type- The History of Don-Quichote setting. It belonged to “H. Freame”, with her signa- London: Printed for E. Blounte, 1620 ture label, Philadelphia, 1765. We suspect that this The first translation of Don Quixote Part I into is the young Freame, born in 1740, who English was made by Thomas Shelton in 1612, married Thomas Dawson in 1770. followed in 1620 by his translation of the second part (French, German, and Italian translations were Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 published in 1614, 1621, and 1622 respectively). It was the most popular English translation of the seven- L’Ingénieux Hidalgo de la Manche teenth century, much as Charles Jarvis’s English Paris: Librairie de L. Hachette et cie, 1863 version of 1742 would be for the eighteenth. Shelton 2 vols.; shown is vol. I based his translation on the Brussels edition of 1607. Purchased on the Mary L. Hurt Richmond Fund However popular, Shelton’s translation was published Fans of Don Quixote include a long line of illustrators only twice more in that century, making this first who were taken by the work’s extraordinarily visual edition of the complete Don Quixote a rare and language. Foremost among them was the nineteenth- important item, held by fewer than two dozen century French artist Gustave Doré. A prolific illus- of the largest academic and research libraries in trator, his credits also include Dante’s Inferno and the America. Bible. Doré displayed an affinity for the mysterious: his engravings are often dark and suggestive. His last Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 task as an artist was the illustration of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, a work which was a strong influence Vida y Hechos del Ingenioso Hidalgo on Cervantes’ masterpiece. Don Quixote de La Mancha Doré’s interest in Don Quixote stemmed from a Londres: J. y R. Tonson, 1738 trip he made to Spain in 1862, during which he fell 4 vols.; shown is vol. I in love with the country. The scene in which Don Quixote mistakes windmills for giants is one of his This beautifully illustrated edition of Cervantes’ most famous. This first edition of the French trans- masterpiece includes a short historical sketch of lation by Louis Viardot and of these illustrations, Cervantes’ life by Don Gregorio Mayáns y Siscar. showcases Doré’s at times Gothic imagination at The portrait of Cervantes by George Kent, in which its best. the symbolism of knight-errantry prevails, was inspired by Cervantes’ Prologue to his Exemplary . Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 While this edition follows the second typesetting Vida y Hechos del Ingenioso Hidalgo of 1605, it is faithful to the Brussels editions that Don Quixote de La Mancha began to appear in 1607. A Spanish linguist living Londres: J. y R. Tonson, 1738 in England at the time, named Pedro Pineda, made 4 vols.; shown is vol. III the “liberal” corrections the edition is famous for, and equated Cervantes’ life with that of his hero by Most of the plates in this edition of Don Quixote way of the title, which in the work is rendered as were designed by John Vanderbank and engraved “Vida y hechos del ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote by Gerard Van der Gucht. Their depiction of de la Mancha” (emphasis added), which since 1662 Don Quixote as somewhat frail and lanky may had characterized Brussels editions. well correspond to Cervantes’ own description of his hero.

4 Carta executoria of Diego de Herrera Beautifully bound, this edition took as a model an earlier translation by Charles Jarvis. Manuscript on vellum Spain, second half of the sixteenth century, during the reign of Philip II (1556-1598) Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 The Spanish obsession with the purity of blood and Historia del Famoso Cavallero, noble pedigree is an object of parody in Don Quixote. Don Quixote de la Mancha Having befriended a Spanish nobleman by the name Con anotaciones, indices, y varias lecciones of Vivaldo, Don Quixote embarks on a defense of por D. Juan Bowle the rights of the man, including their right Londres: Se hallaran en las librerias de B. White, to give rise to their own respectable lineages. P. Elmsley, T. y T. Payne, y J. Robson, 1781 In response to Vivaldo’s query of Dulcinea’s 6 vols. in 3; shown is vol. III ancestry, Don Quixote replies that “she belongs to those of , a lineage, however modern, This is a full rendition of Don Quixote in three that shall beget the most illustrious of families in the volumes printed in England. The last volume is forthcoming centuries.” Don Quixote’s egalitarian important in the publishing history of the work spirit, however, is belied by the reader’s knowledge as the first full annotation to accompany the novel. that, as Dulcinea’s self-appointed knight-in-shining- In it, John Bowle attempts the daunting task of armor, it is he who shall benefit, as founder and explaining Cervantes’ occasionally archaic lexicon, patriarch, from a new dynastic line. shedding light on obscure passages and literary references unfamiliar to ordinary readers. He also furnishes an invaluable index of characters. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616

The History and Adventures of the Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 Renowned Don Quixote Translated by Vida y Hechos del Ingenioso Cavallero London: A. Millar, 1755 Don Quixote de la Mancha 2 vols.; shown is vol. I Nueva edicion, coregida y ilustrada con 32 differentes estampas muy donasas, y apropriadas a la materia The tale in Don Quixote of the Spanish captive who En Amberes: por Henrico y Cornelio Verdussen, 1697 returns to Christian territory closely parallels Cer- 2 vols. vantes’ participation in the in 1571, the great battle between Christian and Muslim forces The complete Antwerp edition is interesting for over Cyprus, which the Ottomans had wrested from its neo-classical frontispieces. Part I displays Don the Venetians. At Lepanto Cervantes lost the use of Quixote, Mambrino’s helmet perched on his head, his left hand. For five years he was held captive by in a traditional rendition, with Sancho and mule by Turks until his return to Spain in 1580. his side. A portrait in profile of Dulcinea, ranking The Captive’s tale, along with that of the Moor above all women, is the centerpiece of the engraving, Zoraida, plainly revisits this episode in Cervantes’ life. flanked by statues of Amadís and Roland in accord- It portrays the trials of a captive soldier who, follow- ance with their importance. ing the Battle of Lepanto, falls into enemy hands. Don Quixote is still posing in Part II, but instead The theme of battle and captivity render this episode of Dulcinea it is Merlin who hangs high above him. unique in the novel for its portrayal of Muslim- Here Dulcinea is truer to her humble roots, while Christian clashes, complete with veiled women and both Sancho and Don Quixote seem to have risen a not-so-subtle commentary on the need for religious in status, Don Quixote to erstwhile caballero and conversion, an important theme in Golden Age Spain. Sancho to Governor. The sobriquet of Don Quixote

5 as “Knight of the Lions” alludes to the adventure in Don Quixote’s talent is put to the test when he which he encounters two lions sent by the African performs one of his improvised ballads for the whole king of to the Spanish monarch. castle to hear. The air is filled with singing. The servants, in the meantime, carry out their plan by releasing a sack-full of cats, ringing bells tied round Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 their tails, into Don Quixote’s chambers. In the midst of the cacophony Don Quixote mistakes them for evil El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha En Madrid: por Don Joaquin Ibarra, 1780 wizards, thrashing at them with his sword. One of his 4 vols.; shown is vol. I combatants turns out to be a lone cat who in a panic snatches onto his face, scratching and biting until the In 1780 the Royal Academy of Spain published a hosts’ arrival. By then Don Quixote has lost another multi-volume edition of Don Quixote based on the battle, this time hapless feline who has stormed out first Cuesta edition of Part I. It is notable for its the window, bell in tow, leaving a wounded and return to Cervantes’ original title. befuddled victim. As a result of this latest adventure, Another innovation made by the Academy was a bandaged Don Quixote is bed-ridden for five days, the elimination of the four-chapter division in favor as Doré comically illustrates here. of an organic whole, a dubious choice given Cervan- tes’ allusion to Amadís in structure. The Academy’s logic rested on the view that Cervantes must have Cancionero de Romances: en que estan recopilados been unhappy with the original organization, since la mayor parte de los romances castellanos, que hasta he did not employ it in Part II. Additionally, as the agora se han compuesto Academy saw it, this change harmonized the two En Enveres: En casa de Martin Nucio, 1555 parts. The highly detailed map illustrates the extent of The invention of typesetting and the rise of a print Don Quixote’s journey, and underscores the status culture not only democratized literacy but allowed for the compilation and dissemination of oral litera- of Don Quixote as an early “road” novel. ture, in particular popular balladry. Such a compila- tion of lyrics is evident in this Cancionero from the Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 mid-sixteenth century. While the journey of popular ballads to the written page was devoid of the musical L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche quality of the romances, they served to both delight Paris: Librairie de L. Hachette et cie, 1863 and educate readers about the wealth of oral litera- 2 vols.; shown is vol. II ture in the new age of literacy. Purchased on the Mary L. Hurt Richmond Fund The volume is open to a Lancelot ballad, a stanza In Part II of the novel Sancho and Don Quixote from which Don Quixote recites word for word. finally part ways, the former to assume his much- Clearly this implies that Cervantes was familiar awaited post as governor. In the meantime, Don with both high and popular culture. Quixote has been invited to be the guest of honor by a duke and duchess he has met along the way, in a veritable castle. Perplexed by his strangeness, ’s maidservants decide to play a joke at his expense. Pretending to be overcome with emotion in his presence, the damsels entreat Don Quixote to retire to his quarters, furnishing him a stringed oud for his musical amusement.

6 Cancionero de Romances: en que estan recopilados Never was a knight la mayor parte de los romances castellanos que So well served by gentlewomen fasta agora sean compuesto As was Lancelot En Enveres: En casa de Martin Nucio, ca. 1550 Who from Britain came.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 Don Quixote goes on to trace the origin of the Chivalric Order to King Arthur’s Knights of the El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha Round Table, an exemplary lineage running down Nueva edicion con nuevo analisis, y con la vida to and including Amadís, Tirant lo Blanch, and, de el autor nuevamente aumentada por D. Juan by ironic implication, Don Quixote himself. Pellicer Madrid: por D. Gabriel de Sancha, 1797-1798 5 vols.; shown is vol. IV Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 Not all ballads were based on historical events. Don Quixote de la Mancha Some invented fictional storylines or characters Translated by Charles Jarvis which in turn became literary “types,” appearing Illustrated by and reappearing in multiple versions of romances. London: J.J. Dubochet, 1837-1839 One such figure was the Marqués de Mantua, 3 vols.; shown are vols. I and II an aristocratic marquís complete with hound and hunting gear. Don Quixote compares himself to In Part I of Don Quixote Cervantes includes a novella this aristocratic figure and plays out one of the titled “The Curious Impertinent.” Its Renaissance ballad’s plots in an episode in which he vows themes are made evident from the outset in the Ital- revenge for misfortunes that have befallen him. ian setting, while its concerns center on the nature and fidelity of women. The story is read out loud by the village priest in the village inn that regularly Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 serves as a rest-stop for Don Quixote’s myriad adventures. In the story-within-the-story, best El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha Nueva edicion con nuevo analisis, y con la vida friends Anselmo and Lotario wax philosophical de el autor nuevamente aumentada por D. Juan about womanhood and decide to test Camila, Antonio Pellicer Anselmo’s wife, by laying before her a cruel trap: Madrid: por D. Gabriel de Sancha, 1797-1798 if she falls for Lotario’s advances, Anselmo will 5 vols.; shown is vol. I know her true nature and confirm his suspicion that chaste appearances can be deceiving. In an Don Quixote, an avid reader, may be thought of as unforeseen twist, Lotario and Camila fall into a a singer of tales as well, judging by his taste for the brazen love affair that must remain hidden at Spanish ballads collectively known as the Romancero. any cost. These ballads, a vital part of medieval Spanish folk- In placing “The Curious Impertinent” within the lore, often recount popular stories or major historical larger frame, Cervantes had as precedent Jorge de events, such as the exploits of the Cid. Some of the Montemayor’s Diana, a seminal pastoral novel of the most popular romances in Spain were of the so-called mid-sixteenth century. It too had made an appear- “Moorish” stripe: songs that captured the give-and- ance as the priest rummages through Don Quixote’s take of Christians and Muslims in a conflicted land. library. The Diana also had tucked inside it a smaller In the passage shown, Don Quixote alludes to the novella, this one titled El Abencerraje, about a Moor- legend of King Arthur’s Lancelot, implicitly compar- ish knight taken captive by his Christian warlord. ing himself to the famous knight. Notice the role of Don Quixote compares himself to that knight at the damsels in the Lancelot song: least once in the novel.

7 The plot of “The Curious Impertinent” thickens in Amadís de Gaula: los quatro libros de d’ gaula a moment of rage when Lotario reveals his love affair nuevamente impressos et hystoriados with his best friend’s wife. This is precipitated by Venecia: por Maestro Juan Antonio de Sabía, 1533 Lotario’s suspicion that, like Anselmo, he too may be an unknowing cuckold. Mistakingly assuming that Of all the works slated for burning by the village her maid’s male companion is in fact Camila’s surrep- priest in Don Quixote, Cervantes saves Amadís de titious lover, the themes of trust and fidelity are Gaula, a formidable literary inspiration for Don suddenly thrust to the surface of the novel, compli- Quixote as an illustrous knight. Medieval in origin, cating events and resulting in a surprise ending. the anonymous Amadís was published in the early The illustration shows Lotario keeping an eye sixteenth century, becoming a top seller and building on Camila as a stranger leaves her home. The plot is a cult following among Spanish readers. Originally it comprised four parts, and much can be made of the remarkably similar to that of Celestina, where dam- sels and their maids engage in illicit affairs while fact that Part I of Don Quixote is itself divided into eschewing society’s ever-present watchful eye. four chapters. It is commonly assumed that Don Quixote paro- dies romances of chivalry for their lack of realism and Ludovico Ariosto, 1474-1533 their lack of verisimilitude, but Amadís held a special place among Cervantes’ influences. It may be said that Orlando Furioso Cervantes paid homage to the work for its role as Nuovamente adornato di Figure de Rame “founder” of a new genre, no small feat. To this select da Girolamo Porro company of privileged works may be added Tirant lo In Venetia: Appresso Francesco de Franceschi Blanch, a Catalan romance to whom Don Quixote e compagni, 1584 also compares himself, and of course Ariosto’s The inspiration for “The Curious Impertinent” Orlando Furioso. is undoubtedly Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. In fact, the whole of the may be acknowledged as Orlando Libro de Palmerín de Oliva y de sus grandes hechos a principal influence on the writing of Don Quixote, En Sevilla: por Juan Cromberger, 1536 in matters of both content and composition. From Ariosto Cervantes borrowed the tactic of sewing Like Amadís, Palmerín de Oliva was the illegitimate numerous episodes together, allowing one story to son of star-crossed lovers. And like Amadís, he was flow into another almost seamlessly within one over- abandonded, in his case left atop a hill flanked by arching structure. But while Ariosto had brought olive trees, thus the origin of his name. As the enters innovation to this technique through poetic versifica- adult-hood he decides for a life of adventure and sets tion, Cervantes executed narrative in such a way as to out into the known world of his time, much as Don have accomplished, through both craft and imitation, Quixote travels the far reaches of La Mancha. Among what we today call the novel. the many episodes in the work is one in which he Cantos 42 and 43 contain various stories of love defeats a giant serpent standing guard over a water and betrayal, including the story of Anselmo, a jealous fountain sprinkling a magic elixir. Mantuan judge whose wife has committed adultery. The Palmerín series ran parallel to the Amadís This is not, however, the prototype of Cervantes’ series and commanded equally devoted followers, jealous husband. Rather, it is the character Rinaldo, not the least of whom was Don Quixote, judging by who is challenged to drink wine out of a glass goblet the presence of both Palmerín de Oliva and Palmerín to test his wife’s fidelity: if he spills a single drop it de Inglaterra in his wondrous library. Cervantes will mean that his wife has made of makes it clear that of the whole noble lineage, it is him a laughable cuckold. the “English” Palmerín that he prefers, saving it as he does from turning into embers. Cervantes goes

8 so far as to make the village priest say that Palmerín In these pages interrupts de Inglaterra is so precious as to merit a coffer like that the flow of his own chronicle of Don Quixote’s life which Alexander the Great used to keep his personal with an appeal to the Prophet Muhammad, show- copy of ’s Iliad. casing his religious devotion in an otherwise secular No other copy of this edition has been traced. literary work.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 Pedro de Alcalá El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha Arte para ligeramente saber la lengua araviga Comentado por Don Diego Clemencín Granada: por Juan Varela de Salamanca, 1505 Madrid: En la oficina de D.E. Aguado, impresos The conquest of Granada in 1492 effectively ended de Cámara de S.M. y de su Real Casa, 1833-1839 the last vestiges of Muslim rule in Spain. Following 6 vols.; shown is vol. I the Christian conquest, the use of Arabic was banned There are many references to Islam in Don Quixote, by the Inquisition, a fact that speaks volumes about perhaps to be expected given Spain’s unique conflu- Spain’s conflict with its Muslim and Jewish past. ence of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in the While the treaty eventually settling the conquest of medieval period. The episode of the “ alja- Granada was conciliatory in tone and guaranteed miado” in Don Quixote attests to this fact. The end protection to the vanquished Muslims, tomes in of the first chapter leaves unfinished the battle Arabic were fed to the fire in public spectacles paro- between Don Quixote and a ruthless Basque, died by Cervantes in the burning of Don Quixote’s swords suspended in mid-air. In order to proceed, library. the narrator sets out to find the missing pages of An Arabic-Spanish dictionary published in 1505, Don Quixote, happening upon an Arabic manuscript Alcalá’s work seems contradictory given this rising in the medieval town of Toledo. These pages contain intolerance. But its Prologue clarifies the book’s the continuation of Don Quixote. But because the purpose. Labeling the prophet Muhammad as “dirty writing is in Arabic, the story can resume only after and cursed,” Alcalá’s Arte was meant to furnish the Morisco has fully translated the Arabic text, missionaries with a useful tool to make Christian which is then relayed by the narrator to (a presum- converts out of Arabic speakers. It was not foreseen ably non-Christian) audience. that in the process Islam was driven underground, The (literally “little Moors”) was the creating what has been termed a “crypto-Muslim” name given of Muslim converts to Christianity, the culture. The Morisco translator of Don Quixote’s Muslim equivalent of Jewish conversos. The word Arabic manuscript whom we meet in Toledo, we “aljamiado” comes from the Arabic root for non-Arab can safely say, belonged to this community of peoples, including their language. The Moriscos often believers. employed the practice of writing Spanish using the Arabic script (their literature included everything Qur’an from Islamic religious treatises to romances of Manuscript chivalry), a style of writing which, not coincidentally, Written out by a scribe named Bonhany, was known as aljamiado. finished in Teheran, 1249 A.H. (Anno Hejirae) The name of the historian who supposedly authored the Arabic manuscript is Cide Hamete The Qur’an as Scripture may not be directly relevant Benengeli, his last name comically suggestive of the to Don Quixote, but then as now it was a book much Spanish word for eggplant. “Cide” means “My Sir,” heard about though seldom read. Nonetheless, Cide and is the same title of that most national Hamete was an Arab and indubitably a Muslim, of Spanish medieval heroes, The Cid. while the translator of Cide Hamete’s chronicle is

9 yet another Muslim. So it would seem natural that however, is a work not mentioned in the Quixote Islam’s holiest book accompany an exhibition about but which Cervantes considered “divine,” namely Fer- Cervantes and his novel. This, but also the fact that nando de Rojas’ La Celestina. A novel in dramatized the Spanish culture which gave birth to the style form (the entire plot evolves as dialogue), La Celes- of realistic representation that we celebrate in tina is the earliest Spanish realist work, a new mode Don Quixote today was a culture at the time still of picturing life that was given full force by Cervantes. imprinted by its Arab-Muslim heritage. In many ways, Don Quixote is a cross between the Interestingly, the name Muslim converts to fantastic prose of Amadís and Celestina’s biting Christianity gave their apocryphal tongue, aljamía, realism. was derived in usage from the Qur’an, specifically The fictional world of Rojas is inhabited by men Sura 41, in which God distinguishes for its readers and women of all social classes, all of whom share a between believers and non-believers, speakers of desire for personal fulfillment and are at odds with Arabic and speakers of aljamía. Thus it is tragically social convention and courtly notions of love. As in fitting that the word the Moriscos (and subsequently Don Quixote, La Celestina traces a veritable portrait Cervantes) chose to define themselves was one which of Spanish life high and low. And like Don Quixote, their very religion used to denigrate others, namely the main character Celestina is no stranger to the those outside the Islamic faith and ignorant of Arabic. workings of “magic” and tending to those in need, especially in helping damsels in distress.

Los Famosos, y Eroycos Hechos del Ynvencible y Esforcado Cavallero, Onrra y Flor de las Espanas, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 el Cid Ruydiaz de Bivar El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha En Anveres: En Casa de la Biuda de Juan Lacio, 1568 Comentado por Don Diego Clemencín The anonymous epic The Cid is the most celebrated Madrid: En la oficina de D.E. Aguado, impresos work of medieval . It relates the de Cámara de S.M. y de su Real Casa, 1833-1839 adventures of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (or Bivar), 6 vols.; shown is vol. IV who served under King Alfonso VI of Castile in In Part II of the story, as a conversation among the eleventh century. Don Quixote compares his Don Quixote, the village priest, and the barber turns improbable horse to the famous Babieca, into a debate over the existence of knights and giants, the Cid’s steed and symbol of chivalric power. In the priest casts doubt on their existence, in turn the romances of chivalry, horses often served as infuriating Don Quixote. Don Quixote replies that extensions of the knight’s character and military he has seen Amadís “with [his] very eyes,” and goes capability, making the indolent and uninterested so far as to offer a detailed physical description of the Rocinanate the object of sustained parody through- famed knight. The barber then asks him how is it out the novel. possible for giants to exist, alluding to Morgante, the A copy of this edition may well have sat in giant whom Don Quixote has previously mentioned Cervantes’ library. (in a sixteenth-century Italian epic, Morgante was converted to Christianity by the epic hero Roland). Fernando de Rojas A savvy Don Quixote responds by noting that no less an authority than the Bible had allowed for the Celestina: Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea existence of giants, pointing to the Biblical Goliath, Leiden: En la Oficina Plantiniana, 1595 a Philistine, as irrefutable proof of this. In its invention of tradition Don Quixote pays Gustave Doré’s illustration of the windmills as homage to both classical and contemporary litera- giants is shown in an adjacent case. ture. A seminal figure in the rise of the novel in Spain,

10 La Biblia, que es, los Sacros Libros del Vieio Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 y Nuevo Testamento Basel: Thomas Guarin, 1569 El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha En Madrid: por Don Joaquin Ibarra, 1780 This is the first edition of the Bible to be translated 4 vols.; shown is vol. IV into Spanish in its entirety. The translator, Cassio- doro de Reina, was a native of and religious finally gets his wish, promised at the reformer. He settled in England after the rise of start of their adventures by Don Quixote, of becom- Queen Elizabeth to the throne. Soon after leaving ing governor of his own island, a cruel joke played on Spain, he began work on this translation, most him by a duke and his butler. This has been Sancho’s probably the one Cervantes knew and read while ideal from the very beginning, speaking both to Sancho’s socio-political status and the advantages writing Don Quixote, though he would have had no problem reading the medieval Latin Vulgate that New World territories lent to those desiring as well. upward mobility. The island’s name is Barataria The volume is open to I Samuel, where the (barato in Spanish means “of little worth” or “trifle”), figure of Goliath is alluded to. and thus Sancho becomes ruler of Baratarios. As ruler Sancho gives advice to those in need and metes out justice to those who seek it, in tragically Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 comic ways. One of his subjects, a builder, is phys- ically thrown from Sancho’s court after asking for The Life and Exploits of the Ingenious Gentleman money. Placed in a position of authority, however, Don Quixote de la Mancha Sancho begins to meditate on the nature of power Translated from the original Spanish by and responsibility. A governor should be made of Charles Jarvis bronze, he says, to withstand the many enquiries Illustrated by W.H. Robinson made of him. Even rulers are made of flesh and London: Bliss, Sands, 1897 bones, he says, a fact lost on subjects and under- appreciated by the many demands placed on the This nineteenth-century edition is a reprint of role. Charles Jarvis’ 1742 translation, the most popular English version of Don Quixote of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is interesting for Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 Heath Robinson’s fin-de-siècle illustrations. Born in 1872 into a family of artists, Robinson had originally The Travels of Persiles and Sigismunda: A Northern wanted to be a landscape painter, but soon discovered History, wherein, amongst the Variable Fortunes of the that commercial illustration was more likely to earn Prince of Thule, and This Princesse of Frisland, Are him a living. In addition to Don Quixote, he illus- Interlaced Many Witty Discourses, Morall, Politicall, trated such diverse works as the Pilgrim’s Progress, and Delightfull A Midsummer Night’s Dream, poems by Poe and London: Printed by H. Lownes for M. Lownes, 1619 Kipling, and children’s books. He died in 1944. Persiles and Segimunda was not published until 1617, a year after Cervantes’ death, but its writing must have gone in tandem with Don Quixote Part II, since Cervantes mentions it in his dedication to the Count of Lemos. Apparently he considered this work to be his masterpiece, not Don Quixote. An adventurous romance, it is set in cold northern shores somewhere beyond Spain, as opposed to the warm Castilian landscape of Don Quixote. It traces the characters’

11 journey through Portugal, France, and finally Italy, Displayed in the Chapin foyer: where they beg the to bless their love. This translation into English in 1619 is one year Juan Givanel Mas, b. 1868 earlier than the first complete publication of Don Quixote in England. Historia grafica de Cervantes y del Quijote Madrid: Editorial Plus-ultra, 1946

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616 Francisco Aguilera, ed. Comedias y Entremeses de Miguel de Cervantes Works by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Saavedra . . . con una Dissertacion, o prologo sobre in the las Comedias de España Washington, D.C.: Foundation; En Madrid: En la Imprenta de Antonío Marin, 1749 Reference Dept., Library of Congress, 1960 2 vols. Juan Sune Benages, ca. 1865-1938 Toward the end of his life Cervantes composed his Juan Sune Fonbuena Comedias y Entremeses, the latter being short “Inter- ludes” often staged between the first and second acts Bibliografia critica de ediciones del Quijote of plays. The comedies are long plays written in verse, impresas desde 1605 hasta 1917 seldom performed today. The entremeses, however, : Editorial Perello, 1917 are delightfully funny and harshly critical of Spanish society. William Strang, 1859-1921 In one particular , “El retablo de las mara- entremés A Series of Thirty Etchings by William Strang villas” or “The Wonder Show,” the subjects of lineage Illustrating Subjects from “Don Quixote” and purity of blood that so preoccupied Cervantes in London: Macmillan, 1902 Don Quixote are placed at center stage. In a new twist on the story of the Emperor’s new clothes, a wander- ing puppet troupe informs its audience that the marvel of the plot they are about to behold is that only Christians with no tainted blood, and those who are not “bastards,” will be able to see the show; to everyone else it will be invisible. It is ironic, then, and very revealing from Cervantes’ standpoint, that as the audience take their seats and the story begins, not a single person is able to discern so much as a hint of a play, though they all claim to do so. No wonder, since the troupe has played a cruel joke on them and left the stage bare.

typography by wayne g. hammond, assistant chapin librarian