El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha

Madrid: Real Academia Española, 1819. Hardcover. Fine. Small 8vo. 4 volumes, accompanied by the Vida de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra by Miguel Navarrette for a total of 5 volumes. 175, xxiv, 359; [iv], 410; xxii, 406; vi, [blank], 403pp. and 643, [1] pp. The four volumes of Don Quijote are illustrated with copper plates and a folding copper-engraved map, handcolored; the Vida is illustrated with a copper portrait, one facsimile page of the manuscript, and two engraved family tree charts.

Magnificently and uniformly bound by the Spanish master binder Antolin Palomino Alalla in full crimson morocco. The spines are in six compartments with raised bands, intricately tooled in gilt. The boards with gilt rolls on the borders and central designs of gilt arabesques. All edges gilt. Gilt inner dentelles and marbled endpapers. The binding is sumptuous and the tooling is razor sharp. Fine copies in a cloth slipcase.

Palomino Olalla (1909-95) was one of the great Spanish binders of the 20th century. A versatile and meticulous artist, teacher, and craftsman, he opened his Madrid workshop in 1942 and became especially renowned for his hand-gilding, mosaic bindings, and marbled paper techniques. The binding on this set is dated 1947, and there is an autograph letter laid in discussing it.

In Spanish.

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