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The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Part 01 — Edition Insights
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Project Gutenberg
2004
Not confirmed
Spain -- Social life and customs -- 16th century -- Fiction; Knights and knighthood -- Spain -- Fiction; Picaresque literature; Romances
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Project Gutenberg digital edition
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Edition facts
Words
30,798
Reading time
134 min
Text sections
4
The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Part 01 — Edition Insights can be approached with a clearer sense of reading commitment from its source measurements: 30,798 words, 2 hr 14 min estimated reading time, and 4 detected text sections.
The text analysis averages about 37.3 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.
Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Spain -- Social life and customs -- 16th century -- Fiction,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.
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Project Gutenberg record #5903
This editorial note examines how John Ormsby's 1885 translation and Gustave Doré's illustrations frame the opening chapters of Cervantes' novel, focusing on the translator's critique of earlier versions and the illustrator's approach to the Manchegan setting.
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- Title & short description10 pts
- Source metadata20 pts
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Read the Text
Produced by David Widger
by Miguel de Cervantes
Translated by John Ormsby
The book cover and spine above and the images which follow were not part of the original Ormsby translation--they are taken from the 1880 edition of J. W. Clark, illustrated by Gustave Dore. Clark in his edition states that, "The English text of 'Don Quixote' adopted in this edition is that of Jarvis, with occasional corrections from Motteaux." See in the introduction below John Ormsby's critique of both the Jarvis and Motteaux translations. It has been elected in the present Project Gutenberg edition to attach the famous engravings of Gustave Dore to the Ormsby translation instead of the Jarvis/Motteaux. The detail of many of the Dore engravings can be fully appreciated only by utilizing the "Enlarge" button to expand them to their original dimensions. Ormsby in his Preface has criticized the fanciful nature of Dore's illustrations; others feel that these woodcuts and steel engravings well match the Quixote's dreams. D.W.
CHAPTER I WHICH TREATS OF THE CHARACTER AND PURSUITS OF THE FAMOUS GENTLEMAN DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA
CHAPTER II WHICH TREATS OF THE FIRST SALLY THE INGENIOUS DON QUIXOTE MADE FROM HOME
CHAPTER III WHEREIN IS RELATED THE DROLL WAY IN WHICH DON QUIXOTE HAD HIMSELF DUBBED A KNIGHT
CHAPTER IV OF WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR KNIGHT WHEN HE LEFT THE INN
CHAPTER V IN WHICH THE NARRATIVE OF OUR KNIGHT'S MISHAP IS CONTINUED
CHAPTER VI OF THE DIVERTING AND IMPORTANT SCRUTINY WHICH THE CURATE AND THE BARBER MADE IN THE LIBRARY OF OUR INGENIOUS GENTLEMAN
CHAPTER VII OF THE SECOND SALLY OF OUR WORTHY KNIGHT DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA
CHAPTER VIII OF THE GOOD FORTUNE WHICH THE VALIANT DON QUIXOTE HAD IN THE TERRIBLE AND UNDREAMT-OF ADVENTURE OF THE WINDMILLS, WITH OTHER OCCURRENCES WORTHY TO BE FITLY RECORDED
CHAPTER IX IN WHICH IS CONCLUDED AND FINISHED THE TERRIFIC BATTLE BETWEEN THE GALLANT BISCAYAN AND THE VALIANT MANCHEGAN
CHAPTER X OF THE PLEASANT DISCOURSE THAT PASSED BETWEEN DON QUIXOTE AND HIS SQUIRE SANCHO PANZA
CHAPTER XI OF WHAT BEFELL DON QUIXOTE WITH CERTAIN GOATHERDS
CHAPTER XII OF WHAT A GOATHERD RELATED TO THOSE WITH DON QUIXOTE
CHAPTER XIII IN WHICH IS ENDED THE STORY OF THE SHEPHERDESS MARCELA, WITH OTHER INCIDENTS
CHAPTER XIV WHEREIN ARE INSERTED THE DESPAIRING VERSES OF THE DEAD SHEPHERD, TOGETHER WITH OTHER INCIDENTS NOT LOOKED FOR
CHAPTER XV IN WHICH IS RELATED THE UNFORTUNATE ADVENTURE THAT DON QUIXOTE FELL IN WITH WHEN HE FELL OUT WITH CERTAIN HEARTLESS YANGUESANS
CHAPTER XVI OF WHAT HAPPENED TO THE INGENIOUS GENTLEMAN IN THE INN WHICH HE TOOK TO BE A CASTLE
CHAPTER XVII IN WHICH ARE CONTAINED THE INNUMERABLE TROUBLES WHICH THE BRAVE DON QUIXOTE AND HIS GOOD SQUIRE SANCHO PANZA ENDURED IN THE INN, WHICH TO HIS MISFORTUNE HE TOOK TO BE A CASTLE
CHAPTER XVIII IN WHICH IS RELATED THE DISCOURSE SANCHO PANZA HELD WITH HIS MASTER, DON QUIXOTE, AND OTHER ADVENTURES WORTH RELATING
CHAPTER XIX OF THE SHREWD DISCOURSE WHICH SANCHO HELD WITH HIS MASTER, AND OF THE ADVENTURE THAT BEFELL HIM WITH A DEAD BODY, TOGETHER WITH OTHER NOTABLE OCCURRENCES
CHAPTER XX OF THE UNEXAMPLED AND UNHEARD-OF ADVENTURE WHICH WAS ACHIEVED BY THE VALIANT DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA WITH LESS PERIL THAN ANY EVER ACHIEVED BY ANY FAMOUS KNIGHT IN THE WORLD
CHAPTER XXI WHICH TREATS OF THE EXALTED ADVENTURE AND RICH PRIZE OF MAMBRINO'S HELMET, TOGETHER WITH OTHER THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO OUR INVINCIBLE KNIGHT
CHAPTER XXII OF THE FREEDOM DON QUIXOTE CONFERRED ON SEVERAL UNFORTUNATES WHO AGAINST THEIR WILL WERE BEING CARRIED WHERE THEY HAD NO WISH TO GO
CHAPTER XXIII OF WHAT BEFELL DON QUIXOTE IN THE SIERRA MORENA, WHICH WAS ONE OF THE RAREST ADVENTURES RELATED IN THIS VERACIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER XXIV IN WHICH IS CONTINUED THE ADVENTURE OF THE SIERRA MORENA
CHAPTER XXV WHICH TREATS OF THE STRANGE THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO THE STOUT KNIGHT OF LA MANCHA IN THE SIERRA MORENA, AND OF HIS IMITATION OF THE PENANCE OF BELTENEBROS
CHAPTER XXVI IN WHICH ARE CONTINUED THE REFINEMENTS WHEREWITH DON QUIXOTE PLAYED THE PART OF A LOVER IN THE SIERRA MORENA
CHAPTER XXVII OF HOW THE CURATE AND THE BARBER PROCEEDED WITH THEIR SCHEME; TOGETHER WITH OTHER MATTERS WORTHY OF RECORD IN THIS GREAT HISTORY
CHAPTER XXVIII WHICH TREATS OF THE STRANGE AND DELIGHTFUL ADVENTURE THAT BEFELL THE CURATE AND THE BARBER IN THE SAME SIERRA
CHAPTER XXIX WHICH TREATS OF THE DROLL DEVICE AND METHOD ADOPTED TO EXTRICATE OUR LOVE-STRICKEN KNIGHT FROM THE SEVERE PENANCE HE HAD IMPOSED UPON HIMSELF
CHAPTER XXX WHICH TREATS OF ADDRESS DISPLAYED BY THE FAIR DOROTHEA, WITH OTHER MATTERS PLEASANT AND AMUSING
CHAPTER XXXI OF THE DELECTABLE DISCUSSION BETWEEN DON QUIXOTE AND SANCHO PANZA, HIS SQUIRE, TOGETHER WITH OTHER INCIDENTS
John Ormsby's 1885 translation of Don Quixote, presented here with Gustave Doré's engravings, opens with a preface that is as much a commentary on translation as on the novel itself. Ormsby explains his initial preference for Thomas Shelton's 1612 version, praising its 'racy old style' and its contemporaneity with Cervantes, but concedes that Shelton's 'barbarously literal' and uneven rendering would not appeal to modern readers. This editorial choice—to replace Shelton with a more accurate but less archaic translation—shapes how the first three chapters read: they are precise, but lose some of the 'English of Shakespeare' that Ormsby admired.
Ormsby's Translation and Its Predecessors
Ormsby's preface reveals a translator deeply aware of his predecessors. He dismisses the Jarvis and Motteaux translations as inadequate, yet the edition he worked from (J. W. Clark's 1880 edition) actually used Jarvis's text with corrections from Motteaux. This irony is compounded by Ormsby's critique of Doré's illustrations as 'fanciful' and out of keeping with the novel's realism. The translator insists that the humour of Don Quixote depends on the incongruity between the knight's fantasies and the mundane reality of La Mancha—a reality he claims Doré fails to capture. For instance, Ormsby argues that Doré's drawing of Don Quixote watching his armour in the inn-yard misses the point because the artist did not understand the 'remoteness of all its realities from his ideal.' This tension between translator and illustrator is a recurring subtext in the edition.
La Mancha as a Key to Meaning
Ormsby devotes considerable space to the significance of La Mancha, arguing that the region's 'dullest tract' of 'bald and dreary' plains is essential to understanding Cervantes' satire. He notes that the very title 'Don Quixote of La Mancha' would have immediately signalled to contemporary Spanish readers the incongruity of a knight-errant arising from such an 'ignoble' landscape. The windmills, he adds, are 'the ugliest and shabbiest of the windmill kind.' This emphasis on geographical realism contrasts with the catalog subjects of 'Picaresque literature' and 'Romances,' which might lead readers to expect a more fantastical setting. Instead, the excerpts show that Cervantes' comedy is rooted in the collision between chivalric ideals and the prosaic details of seventeenth-century Spain.
Doré's Illustrations and the Question of Fidelity
Gustave Doré's engravings, while visually striking, are treated by Ormsby as a potential distraction. The translator criticizes earlier illustrators for knowing 'nothing whatever of Spain' and for failing to convey the 'full force of the discrepancy' between Don Quixote's world and reality. Yet the edition includes Doré's work, and the editor's note acknowledges that 'others feel these woodcuts and steel engravings well match Quixote's dreams.' This debate over illustration reflects a broader question about how visual interpretation can shape a reader's understanding of a text. Readers of this volume encounter both Ormsby's textual precision and Doré's romanticized imagery, creating a layered experience that invites comparison between the translator's literal approach and the illustrator's imaginative one.
This edition of Don Quixote offers a unique opportunity to consider how translation and illustration mediate a classic text. Ormsby's preface provides a critical framework for evaluating the choices made in rendering Cervantes' Spanish into English, while Doré's engravings offer a contrasting visual interpretation. Readers may find it instructive to compare the translator's insistence on geographical and social realism with the illustrator's more fantastical depictions, and to consider how each contributes to—or distorts—the novel's celebrated humour.
Reading the edition insights on Ormsby’s translation, I was struck by how much a reader’s early impressions shape everything after—the light Doré throws across La Mancha stays with you. That feeling of being guided gently through unfamiliar ground reminded me of The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Part 05 — A Reader’s Guide, which felt less like a companion and more like a quiet conversation between chapters. It had that same unhurried warmth.
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