The Making of Lord John Carteret’s Landmark Edition of Cervantes’s Don Quixote (London, 1738)
Rolena Adorno
In the editorial history of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s masterpiece, El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote la Mancha (1605, 1615), one its signal events was landmark edition published in London 1738. The result an unusual Anglo-Spanish collaboration commissioned by English nobleman, project may have been set motion his exchange with a Hanoverian princess newly arrived Great Britain. This major undertaking and two strong personalities — directly involved, other only possibly pertinent occupy following pages. legendary Merlin sorcerer plays dual role links two, as personality name collection books fiction that later became site amusement-park-style spectacle at royal residence. These intertwined stories reveal how canonical literature popular legend can serve twin pursuits cultural prestige historical standing.
Textual cultures