Gustave Dore's 19th Century depiction of Don Quixote and his squire
Miguel de Cervantes
First edition of Don Quixote
January 16th 1605: Don Quixote published
On this day in 1605, the first book of Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes’s magnum opus, Don Quixote, was published. With the full title of El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha, the novel was printed and published by bookseller Francisco de Robles. Cervantes, who had previously fought with the Spanish military, first conceived the idea for Don Quixote in 1597. The story follows Alonso Quixano, who descends into insanity and attempts to revive chivalry by becoming a knight under the name Don Quixote de la Mancha. He is accompanied on his quest by the simple farmer Sancho Panza, who acts as his squire. The word ‘quixotic’, meaning idealistic and impractical, derives from the deluded character of Don Quixote. Cervantes’s book was an immediate success, being translated and distributed around Europe and the Americas. The second part of Don Quixote was published in 1615, ten years after the first. The novel is considered one of the foundational texts of modern litereature, and has been reinterpreted over the years as a comedy, a social commentary, and a tragedy. Don Quixote remains popular today, frequently hailed as one of the greatest pieces of literature of all time.
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