CELEBRATING SPAIN'S GREATEST WRITER
In 1780 the Royal Spanish Academy created a national treasure when it commissioned Joaquin Ibarra to print a deluxe edition of Don Quixote. Regarded as one of the most magnificent books of its kind, the Academy edition includes lavish engravings, careful editorial emendations to the text, a biography of Cervantes, and the first map to chart Quixote's itinerary. The most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age, Don Quixote remained a cornerstone of the artistic imagination 175 years after its initial publication.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Alcala de Henares (1547-1616), El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, 1780