Don Quixote

San Francisco: The Arion Press, 2010. Limited Edition. Leather. New. Wiley, William T.. Both volumes octavos, Book I with 576 pages and Book II with 632 pages; Book I with 42 prints and Book II with 55 prints. The type is Centaur roman and Arrighi italic, handset and in Monotype composition by Mackenzie & Harris. The size of the text type is 16 point, cast on a 14-point body, leaded two points, so that the effect is solid 16 point. The initial letters, a set of capitals intended for use with Centaur type, were drawn by Mallette Dean for the Grabhorn Press. For the prints, Wiley scratched the images onto negatives that were then directly exposed to make polymer plates that, when printed by letterpress, produce relief prints with the linear qualities of etchings. The type is printed in black, the initials in red-brown, and the illustrations in sepia. The paper is an all-cotton fiber sheet, especially made for this project by Mead Specialty Papers. The binding, done in-house, is hand-sewn, with hand-sewn linen headbands, a dark brown goatskin spine titled in gold, and tan goatskin sides, stamped in gold on the front board with a DQ monogram designed by Wiley. The slipcases have tan cloth edges, dark brown paper sides, and a dark brown paper label with titling in gold. Each Book issued in an edition of 400 numbered copies, plus 26 lettered copies hors de commerce, signed by the artist. When Edith Grossman's superb new English translation of Cervantes' novel was published in 2003, we immediately began to think about producing a fine edition of this masterpiece of world literature. Six years were to pass before we had an artist and the necessary permissions in place for one of the largest undertakings of Arion Press.

The artist William T. Wiley was our choice, but he took some convincing, because he felt his pictorial work was too much in line with the satire of the knight and his squire. Finally he consented and produced ninety-seven prints for the two-volume set.

Book I was produced in 2009 and Book II in 2010. Timing is everything. By the time the second volume was published, the Great Recession was in full swing. The large investment in paper, type-setting, printing, leather, and bookbinding was daunting. But we knew that this project was an important publication for Arion Press, so we pressed on. The project was satisfying; proofreading one of the most humorous books ever written was a joy.

PLEASE NOTE: as of this writing, all of the bound copies have been sold. There are several copies remaining in sheets, which we are working on being bound in the same style as the original copies. If you would like to be placed on the waiting list for this title, once the newly-bound copies are available, please contact us.

___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that due to the size and weight of this set additional postage may apply; please contact us for details.

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