Two “unique” volumes of Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), were sold for 504,000 euros at an auction organized this Wednesday (14) in Paris by Sotheby’s.
The two copies – a third edition of Book I of “The ingenious gentleman Don Quixote of la Mancha” printed in 1608, and a first edition of Book II closed in 1615 – were acquired by an anonymous buyer in the same lot for 504 thousand euros , about $536,000 at current exchange rates.
The books, which were first shown to the public two weeks ago at Sotheby’s London headquarters, were purchased by a Bolivian diplomat nearly a century ago.
Jorge Ortiz Linares, appointed Bolivian ambassador to France in 1947, an ardent collector, spent a long time chasing an original edition of what is considered the first modern novel.
In the 1930s, his desire took him to London, “possibly the most important center for the international trade in antique books” at the time, bookseller Ed Maggs, great-great-grandson of Uriah Maggs, founder of Maggs Bros.
After not finding what he was looking for at this bookstore, Ortiz left his contact. In 1936, he finally got the long-awaited call from Maggs Bros and made a hasty trip to London.
On December 21, 1936, he purchased the two copies of Don Quixote, Book I for £100 at the time, and Book II for £750, according to Anne Heilbronn, Sotheby’s Books and Manuscripts Officer.
These volumes are “unique” because they were bound together in the 18th century for an English collector and it is very rare to find Quixotes in such old bindings, added the expert.
