The History of the Valorous and Witty Knight Errant, Don Quixote, of the Mancha. Translated out of the Spanish; now newly Corrected and Amended.. This item is unavailable.The History of the Valorous and Witty Knight Errant, Don Quixote, of the Mancha. Translated out of the Spanish; now newly Corrected and Amended.

Third edition. The first part was originally published in 1612 and the second in 1620; reprinted in 1652. Folio. pp [viii], 137, [v], 273. Full leather with what appears to be a nineteenth-century rebacking of eighteenth-century boards, raised bands lettered in gilt. Endpapers renewed. Thomas Shelton's translation is not only the first in English but also the first into any language. The first part, translated from the Brussels edition of 1607, appeared when Cervantes was still alive. There has been some speculation that Shelton may have known Cervantes but this is impossible to prove. Shelton's translation was until Motteux's translation of 1700 the most popular and still has its admirers, among them Samuel Putnam who produced one of the best translations of recent times.Two early ownership signatures on the title-page one of which has been rubbed away with some light damage to the paper. With the finely engraved bookplate on the front pastedown of Allan Heywood Bright (1862-1941) who was a Liberal politician, author of several books on Middle English literature and a great bibliophile. Tipped onto the front free endpaper is a short essay, presumably in his hand, "Don Quixote revived in the person of Ignatius Loyola".Covers rubbed. Some spotting to prelims and last pages. Very good.…