El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Valencia : Impresso con licencia, en casa de P.P. Mey, a costa de I. Ferrer mercader de libros, 1605. Classmark: Hisp.8.60.7

The immediate success of Cervantes’ masterpiece is evident in the speed with which new editions were brought to the press. In July 1604, Cervantes sold the rights of El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha to the publisher-bookseller Francisco de Robles. License to publish was granted in September, the printing was finished in December, and the book came out on 16 January 1605. Many of the 400 copies of the first edition were sent to the Americas. Within a few weeks of publication at Madrid in 1605, three pirated editions of Don Quixote were issued at Lisbon. A second authorized edition, imperfectly revised, was rushed to the press at Madrid. Between 1605 and 1615, the book went through three editions in Madrid, (two in 1605, one in 1608), one in Valencia, two in Brussels (1607 and 1611).

This is a rare copy of the third authorised edition, printed at Valencia, with its approbation date of 18 July 1605.