The Ingenious Knight of La Mancha: Early Editions and Lost Publication

Posted on May 14, 2024 in Philosophy and ethics

The Ingenious Knight of La Mancha: Early Editions and a Lost Publication

First Edition (1605)

The first part of The Ingenious Knight of La Mancha was printed in Madrid, home of Juan de la Cuesta, in late 1604. It went on sale in January 1605 with numerous errors due to the speed imposed by the publishing contract. This edition was reprinted in the same year and in the same shop, resulting in two slightly different editions of 1605.

Lost Publication

It is suspected that there was an earlier, shorter novel, possibly a precursor to the published editions. This publication, known as The Ingenious Knight of La Mancha, has been lost. Authors such as Francisco Lopez de Ubeda and Lope de Vega, along with other evidence, refer to the fame of this piece. It perhaps circulated in manuscript form and could even date back to early 1604.

Evidence of an Earlier Work

Ibrahim Taybilí Toledo, a Moorish writer best known among those established in Tunisia after the general expulsion of 1609-1612, described a visit to a bookstore in 1604 in Alcalá. He purchased the Epistles Family and Relox Princes of Fray Antonio de Guevara, the Imperial History, and Cesarean Pedro Mexia. In that same passage, he ridicules the fashionable romances and cites a work known as Don Quixote. This account, discovered by Jaime Oliver Asin, adds weight to the possible existence of a disputed issue prior to 1605.