Le Don Quichotte

Paris, Méquignon-Marvis, 1822.
4 vols. (152 x 235 mm). Ebony long-grain morocco, covers decorated with a blind romantic design, gilt fillets and small flowers, spine ribbed and decorated in compartments, gilt inner roll and on the edges, gilt edges (binding signed by Thouvenin).
Edition illustrated with 12 plates in two states, after Horace Vernet (pure etching, printed on wove paper, and final state before letters, on China paper laid down), and 1 map engraved by Tardieu after Bory de Saint-Vincent.

This French translation is the work of Henri Bouchon Dubournial (1749–1828). The first book of Don Quixote appeared in Spanish in 1605, the second in 1616, while the first French translation dates from 1677. The text went through numerous editions during the nineteenth century, gaining ever-growing renown — so much so that this edition effaces even its author’s name: Cervantes appears nowhere, the title page simply reading Le Don Quichotte.

The edition contains twelve illustrations, one for each chapter, by Eugène Louis Lami (8) and Horace Vernet (4), here in two states, together with a fine map after Bory de Saint-Vincent.

A choice copy in a fine binding by Thouvenin. From the library of Pierre Brossette (Paris, Christie’s, 2025, no. 53).

Brunet, I, col. 1752 (first edition); Vicaire, II, col. 153 (first edition); Palau, 52778.

#31680
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