Figure 231
Types used in first edition of Don Quixote: Juan de la Cuesta, Madrid
From a facsimile edition in the Boston Public Library, Biblioteca Digital Hispánica (scan)
1605, 1615
The great Spanish book of the seventeenth century, and of every century since, is Don Quixote. The first edition of the First Part was published by Juan de la Cuesta at Madrid in 1605. It is a square octavo. As to its type-setting, after some preliminary matter in a dull, heavy roman type, and in an irregular italic, and the familiar introductory poetry addressed to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, arranged alternately in roman and italic, comes the text. This is very solidly set in the same heavy roman, but is managed most simply, and I think for that day it was probably considered a very modern sort of book.
The Second Part, issued at Madrid by the same publisher in 1615, resembles the First, except that chapter headings are smaller, and poetry is sometimes in single column in a roman letter like the text, or in double column in a size of italic slightly smaller. It is a respectable production,—nothing more,—but more readable than most seventeenth century editions of novels, which were usually very poorly printed.