Antique book published by Arkstee & Merkus in Amsterdam & Leipzig during the year MDCCLXVIII (1768).
Illustrated with 10 engraved plates created by Coypel and Folkema & Fokke.
Hardcover binding. Text in french. 454 pages, 17 x 10 x 3 cm.
Acceptable/Good condition in general (few inner binding issues, book does not open perfectly, both boards not so firmly attached to binding but not loose or detached either, foxing, yellow/brown stains, few minor water-stains too, few creased pages’ corners, worn cover where few stains, rubbed/discolored/splotchy parts, holes, tears/creases/fragile parts, cracks near spine, worn spine lacking its leather parts,, &c).
Shipping (registered letter) worldwide: $16.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra [29 September 1547 (assumed) – 23 April 1616 N.S.) was a Spanish writer who is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. His masterpiece Don Quixote has been translated into more languages than any other book except the Bible. His major work, Don Quixote, sometimes considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, regarded among the best works of fiction ever written. His influence on the Spanish language has been so great that the language is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). He has also been dubbed El príncipe de los ingenios ("The Prince of Wits"). In 1569, in forced exile from Castile, Cervantes moved to Rome, where he worked as chamber assistant of a cardinal. Then he enlisted as a soldier in a Spanish Navy infantry regiment and continued his military life until 1575, when he was captured by Barbary pirates. After five years of captivity, he was released on payment of a ransom by his parents and the Trinitarians, a Catholic religious order, and he returned to his family in Madrid. In 1585, Cervantes published a pastoral novel titled La Galatea. He worked as a purchasing agent for the Spanish Armada and later as a tax collector for the government. In 1597, discrepancies in his accounts for three years previous landed him in the Crown Jail of Seville. In 1605, Cervantes was in Valladolid when the immediate success of the first part of his Don Quixote, published in Madrid, signalled his return to the literary world. In 1607, he settled in Madrid, where he lived and worked until his death. During the last nine years of his life, Cervantes solidified his reputation as a writer, publishing Novelas ejemplares (Exemplary Novels) in 1613, Viaje al Parnaso (Journey to Parnassus) in 1614, and Ocho comedias y ocho entremeses and the second part of Don Quixote in 1615. His last work, Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda ("The Travails of Persiles and Sigismunda"), was published posthumously in 1617.
Don Quixote (fully titled The Ingenious Nobleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha (Early Modern Spanish: El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha or EL INGENIOSO HIDALGO DON QVIXOTE DE LA MANCHA; Modern Spanish: El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha), is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature and one of the earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published, such as the Bokklubben World Library collection that cites Don Quixote as the authors' choice for the "best literary work ever written". The story follows the adventures of a noble (hidalgo) named Alonso Quixano who reads so many chivalric romances that he loses his sanity and decides to set out to revive chivalry, undo wrongs, and bring justice to the world, under the name Don Quixote de la Mancha. He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, who often employs a unique, earthy wit in dealing with Don Quixote's rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood. Don Quixote, in the first part of the book, does not see the world for what it is and prefers to imagine that he is living out a knightly story. Throughout the novel, Cervantes uses such literary techniques as realism, metatheatre, and intertextuality. The book had a major influence on the literary community, as evidenced by direct references in Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers (1844), Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), and Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (1897), as well as the word "quixotic" and the epithet "Lothario"; the latter refers to a character in "El curioso impertinente" ("The Impertinently Curious Man"), an intercalated story that appears in Part One, chapters 33–35. Arthur Schopenhauer cited Don Quixote as one of the four greatest novels ever written, along with Tristram Shandy, La Nouvelle Héloïse, and Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre.
Jacob Folkema (18 August 1692 – 3 February 1767), a Dutch designer and engraver, was born and died at Dokkum, in Friesland. He was first instructed by his father, Johann Jakob Folkema, a goldsmith, and studied afterwards under B. Picart at Amsterdam. During that time he worked for Royaumont's Bible, 1712, and Ruysch's Anatomy, 1737. Folkema was also an excellent engraver in mezzotint. He had a sister, Anna Folkema, who painted miniatures, assisted her brother, and engraved some few plates. She was born in 1695, and died in 1768. By Jakob Folkema there are, among others, the following plates:
An Emblematical Print on the Death of the Prince of Orange.
Time discovering the Bust of F. Rabelais, with figures and satirical and emblematical attributes.
The Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul; after Niccolò dell'Abbate.
Several plates for the Dresden Gallery; after Le Brun and Niccolò dell'Abbate.
Anna Folkema (22 May 1695 – 8 October 1768), was an 18th-century engraver from the Northern Netherlands. Folkema was born in Dokkum as the daughter of Johann Jakob Folkema, a goldsmith. She was the sister of Jacob Folkema. Their father moved the family to Amsterdam, where they ran a family business of making prints. She died in Amsterdam.
Antoine Coypel (11 April 1661 – 7 January 1722) was a French painter, pastellist, engraver, decorative designer and draughtsman. He became court painter first to Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, and later to King Louis XV. He became director of the Académie Royale. He was given the title of Garde des tableaux et dessins du roi (Keeper of the paintings and drawings of the king), a function which combined the role of director and curator of the king's art collection. He was raised to the nobility by the French king. He is known for his history paintings, biblical, mythological and allegorical works, portraits and genre scenes.