— Ch. 1 · Origins And Publication History —
Don Quixote.
~5 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
Miguel de Cervantes sold the rights to his novel El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha in July 1604. The publisher Francisco de Robles received a license to print the book in September of that same year. Printing finished by December, and the first edition appeared on the 16th of January 1605. Most of the four hundred copies from this initial run were sent across the Atlantic to the New World. A shipwreck near Havana destroyed many of these shipments, yet approximately seventy copies reached Lima. From there they traveled to Cuzco within the heart of the defunct Inca Empire. No sooner did the public hold the book than derivative pirated editions began appearing. By August 1605 two Madrid editions existed alongside one published in Valencia and another in Lisbon. Popularity grew so rapidly that a Milan bookseller issued an Italian version in 1610. Sales figures suggest over five hundred million copies have been sold worldwide since then.
Plot Structure And Narrative Arc
Alonso Quijano is a hidalgo nearing fifty years old who lives in La Mancha with his niece and housekeeper. He reads chivalric romances until madness takes him and he renames himself Don Quixote. He dons an old suit of armor and names his workhorse Rocinante. He designates Aldonza Lorenzo as Dulcinea del Toboso, a woman who once worked salting pork. His first sally ends when he falls from his horse after charging traders from Toledo. A neighboring peasant brings him home unconscious while his family burns most of his library. The Second Sally begins when he recruits Sancho Panza, a poor farm laborer, promising him a governorship. They attack windmills which Quixote believes are ferocious giants. Later they encounter a duke and duchess who have read Part One and decide to play along for amusement. These nobles trick Sancho into believing he must give himself three thousand three hundred lashes to break a spell on Dulcinea. Near the end Quixote battles the Knight of the White Moon on a beach in Barcelona. Defeated, he submits to terms requiring him to lay down arms for one year. Upon returning home he retires to bed with a deathly illness and awakens fully sane as Alonso Quijano again.