La primera salida de 'El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha' (Madrid, Juan de la Cuesta, 1605). La historia editorial de un libro ed. by Victor Infantes (review)

The first of the three main parts of this book is a census by Ana Martínez Pereira and Víctor Infantes of copies of the first edition of Don Quixote. Previous estimates had given numbers from half a dozen to eighteen: the present study establishes the figure of twenty-six copies, of which a dozen are described for the first time. Three libraries (the Spanish Royal Library, the Hispanic Society of America and the Library of Congress) have two copies each. The Bodleian copy was promptly bought in 1605.

In the second part Martínez Pereira describes the different states of the first edition. It is axiomatic that, as this is the first time a reliable census has been established, this is also the first time that such a comparison has been done with any degree of exhaustivity.

In the third part Fermín de los Reyes Gómez and Silvia González-Sarasa Heráez gather a complete collection of documentation on the press of Pedro de Madrigal senior and junior and Juan de la Cuesta senior and junior at Madrid from its foundation in 1561 to 1613. They offer lives of Cuesta and Madrigal (pp. 296-302). Madrigal started his career in Salamanca at the presses of Cánova and María de Neyla viuda de Terranova and set up his own business using equipment from the press of Domingo de Portonaris. In 1586 he moved to Madrid and died in 1593. In 1595 his widow remarried another printer, Juan Iñiguez de Lequerica (d. 1599). Cuesta, born c. 1579, appears in Madrid in 1599 at the Madrigal press, owned by Pedro Madrigal's widow and son. Pedro Madrigal junior died in 1603 or 1604 and Cuesta married his widow. Cuesta died some time before 1652.

From 1604 to 1608 Cuesta printed for thirteen publisher-booksellers — he printed ten editions for Francisco de Robles, publisher of Don Quixote. The Madrigal-Cuesta press, with twenty workers, was the second largest in Madrid. We know the names of his workers — Juan de la Cuesta (regent), Juan Alvarez (corrector), Pedro Romero senior, Cornelio Roldán, García Martínez, Juan Bernal, Bartholomé de León, Mateo Martínez, Juan Leal, Diego Martín, Cristóbal [no surname], Francisco Romero, el moro, Luis Rodríguez (printer or prensista).

Around 20 July 1604 Cervantes sought a privilege of twenty years for Don Quixote. In 2008 Fernando Bouza discovered Cervantes's application, signed by him, and the aprobación of the princeps, signed by the chronicler Alonso de Herrera on 11 September 1604. (For reasons unknown it was not included in the first three editions.) On 26 September Cervantes was granted a privilege for ten years. The title was changed from El yngenioso hidalgo de la Mancha to El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha.

Printing took from October 1604 to the end of November. Printing of the works of Luis Blosio was interrupted to accommodate Don Quixote. The print-run is not known, but 1500 was the norm. Printing of the errata and tasa must have taken a few days. They were printed in Madrid, except for some copies of the tasa, which were printed in Valladolid by Luis Sánchez. On 9 February 1605 Cervantes obtained privileges for Portugal, Valencia, Aragon and Catalonia, and powers to pursue pirates. The second edition was produced no later than April or May 1605.

The authors include a comprehensive list of works printed at the press from 1604 (the printing of Don Quixote commenced in the autumn of that year) to 1608 (the date of the third edition, which was followed by Cuesta's departure for Seville).

This volume is a major contribution...