1815 Catalogue, page 138, no. 7, Don Quixota de la Academia, avec la Traduction François, 14 v 12mo.
1839 Catalogue, page 586, no. J. 7, Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de: Don Quixote de la Mancha (Spanish and French,) 14 v. 12mo;
Madrid, y Rouen, 1781-’87.
Together 12 vol., 8vo and 12mo. The Library of Congress early catalogues call for a total of 14 volumes; the 1849 catalogue
lists these two editions separately, the Spanish edition with 8 volumes 12mo and the French edition correctly described as
6 volumes 12mo. The separate descriptions are as follows:
i. The Real Academia edition, Madrid, 1787.
6 vol. small 8vo., 234, 168, 236, 163, 170, and 158 leaves, mark of the
Academia on each title-page; engraved portrait of Cervantes by Fernando Selma and engraved folded map in vol. I, engraved plates by various
engravers and artists in each volume.
At the beginning of Volume I is the Análisis del Quixote, pages lxvii to ccxlii, mentioned by William Short in his letter of November 4, quoted below, preceded by the Vida de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.
Palau II, 146. Ford-Lansing, page 7. Bonsoms 344. Martin del Rio y Rico 84. Rius 57. Biblioteca del Palacio de Perelada 45.
Jefferson’s copy was sent to him by William Short, who wrote from Madrid on November 4, 1794: “. . . I shall send by him [James Blake] an edition of Don Quixote which I ask you to accept as a small token of my remembrance--it
is the 8
vo. edition of the academy & equally complete & correct with the 4
to. edition, & more transportable, for which purpose I have chosen it, & send it unbound--If you have not previously had this
edition, though I have some idea you have, I recommend particularly to you the Analysis at the beginning by D
r. Vincente de los Rios . . .”
On January 29, 1795, in a long letter to Jefferson, Short reported that he had sent the book: “. . . I sent you by M
r. Blake who did not sail from Cadiz until the 21
st. inst. the 8
vo. Academy edition of D
n Quixote . . .”
In a letter to Edmund Randolph, dated from Monticello June 1, 1795, Jefferson mentioned having received the book: “
. . . m(
~
r)
Short . . . mentions to me that m(
~
r)
Blake would bring for me a copy of Don Quixote, & the Cortez’s letters I had been so anxious to get. the former I have received
. . . .
”
The edition in quarto referred to by William Short in his letter above, was published by the Real Academia and printed by
Joaquin Ibarra in Madrid in 1780.
ii. The translation into French published in Rouen, 1781.
6 vol. 12mo., engraved frontispiece and plates; a copy was not available for examination. The Privilege for this edition of
1200 copies was granted on condition
de hacerla absolutamente conforme a la de Lieja 1773. [why is privilege in Spanish?--
Ed.]
Palau II, 164. Ford-Lansing, page 62. Bonsoms 315. This edition not in Martin del Rio y Rico who has only the Lyons edition
of the same year. Rius 505.
Jefferson’s copy of this edition in French is no longer in the Library of Congress, which has however the copy of the second
volume of a French edition which belonged to Jefferson in his youth. This volume, printed in Paris in 1754, has Jefferson’s
signature in an early hand on the title-page:
Ex Libris Thomæ Jefferson, and much scribbling, probably done by one of his grandchildren. On the fly-
