CERVANTES (Miguel de). The Story of the Admirable Don Quixot - Lot 62

CERVANTES (Miguel de). The Story of the Admirable Don Quixote of La Mancha. Amsterdam, Pierre Mortier, 1696. Five small 12mo volumes, contemporary bindings in blue morocco lined with red morocco, ribbed spines with titles in gilt letters, blind-stamped fillet on the covers, garland border on the lining, gilt edges. A lovely edition of this classic French translation of *Don Quixote* by Filleau de Saint-Martin, first published in Paris in 1677–1678 in four volumes. “A small, uncommon edition, whose well-preserved copies are sought after by collectors” (Brunet). It is illustrated with five frontispieces, all different, and 40 engravings on copper by Henri Cause and Caspar Luyken. Volume II is dated 1695. “Of these five volumes, Filleau de Saint-Martin translated only the first four—the only ones actually by Cervantes” (Brunet, I, 1751). It appears that the fifth, apocryphal volume was added by the translator himself shortly before his death (1694). A delightful and very rare copy, trimmed, in elegant contemporary lined bindings. A tiny brown stain on the edge of about twenty leaves in Volume V. From the library of the bibliographer Jacques-Charles Brunet (Catalog of his sale, I, 1868, no. 461, sold for 315 francs: “Antique and beautiful binding, without gilding on the outside; perfectly preserved”). This copy is cited in the *Manuel* (I, 1751) as having come from the Jérôme Bignon sale (1849, sold for 190 francs) and in the *Supplément* (I, 237). Acquired by Émile Rossignol in 1961.

Estimate:$4,499.36

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