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1880 Don Quixote for Boys — Magnificent Victorian Illustrated EditionThe Story of Don Quixote and His Squire Sancho Panza — M. Jones — George Routledge & Sons
A beautiful, genuinely dated 1880 Victorian edition of one of the greatest and most influential stories ever written, presented here in an especially handsome juvenile adaptation with colored illustrations and a spectacular decorated publisher\'s binding.
The title page reads:
THE STORY OF DON QUIXOTE
AND HIS SQUIRE SANCHO PANZA
BY M. JONES
Author of \"The Black Prince,\" and \"Historical Tales.\"
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS
Broadway, Ludgate Hill
NEW YORK: 416 BROOME STREET
1880
The spine gives the wonderfully direct Victorian title \"DON QUIXOTE FOR BOYS\" and proudly advertises \"COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS.\"
This is an antique book with enormous visual appeal before it is even opened.
An Extraordinary Victorian Binding
The original publisher\'s binding is a particularly elaborate example of late-19th-century decorative book design.
The book is bound in deep green cloth with extensive blind and black-stamped architectural, geometric and botanical ornament. The front board features bright gilt \"DON QUIXOTE FOR BOYS\" lettering above a striking inset-style polychrome floral decoration in gold, burgundy/red and black.
The spine is equally elaborate, incorporating gilt panels, scrolling foliage, decorative flourishes and the prominent COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS banner, with ROUTLEDGE at the foot.
Even the rear board received attention, with an elaborate blind-stamped ornamental border.
Inside are beautiful all-over floral patterned endpapers, another wonderful surviving piece of Victorian bookmaking.
This was clearly intended not merely as a reading copy, but as an attractive gift book for a young Victorian reader.
Beautiful Colored Illustrations
The book contains wonderful period colored illustrations, including the striking color frontispiece shown in the photographs.
These are not modern glossy reproductions. They have the distinctive appearance and muted-but-rich palette of 19th-century color book illustration, and the examples shown retain excellent visual impact after nearly a century and a half.
An earlier edition of this M. Jones/Routledge adaptation is bibliographically described as containing a color frontispiece plus five additional color plates, or six color illustrations in total.
Please refer to the photographs for the illustrations present and overall completeness of this particular copy.
A Victorian Don Quixote Specifically Adapted for Young Readers
This is particularly interesting because it represents an important aspect of Victorian children\'s publishing.
Miguel de Cervantes\' Don Quixote was originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615 and became one of the foundational works of the modern novel.
But Cervantes\' original is enormous, sophisticated and not always material that a respectable Victorian publisher considered suitable for children.
Enter M. Jones, generally identified bibliographically as Meredith Jones.
Jones reshaped the enormous Cervantes narrative into a substantial but approachable adventure story centered on the unforgettable exploits of Don Quixote and his faithful squire Sancho Panza.
The author\'s preface is especially revealing. Jones explains that he has not spoiled the story by extracting only a handful of isolated adventures; instead, he attempted to preserve the narrative while removing material he regarded as unsuitable for young readers.
In other words, this isn\'t merely a random shortened printing of Don Quixote. It is a fascinating example of the way Victorian Britain introduced children to the great works of world literature.
Don Quixote — Four Centuries Ahead of the Curve
There is a reason Don Quixote has survived for more than 400 years.
Cervantes created a character so overwhelmed by the stories he reads that he begins interpreting the real world through them. Ordinary inns become castles. Everyday people become characters in heroic adventures. Windmills become giants.
It is hilarious, sad, absurd and surprisingly modern.
The novel plays with the boundary between reality and fiction, sanity and imagination, heroism and delusion in ways that still feel startlingly contemporary.
And beside the dreamy, idealistic Don Quixote is the wonderfully practical Sancho Panza, constantly attempting to reconcile his master\'s glorious fantasies with the stubborn realities directly in front of them.
The combination created one of literature\'s most enduring partnerships.
The Text
This is no tiny children\'s picture-book adaptation.
The narrative runs to 377 numbered pages, with FINIS appearing at the conclusion.
The photographed pages show the wonderful adventures and dialogue for which the story is famous, including Don Quixote\'s grandiose declarations, Sancho\'s wonderfully earthy responses, knights, adventures, mistaken identities, battles and the continual collision between Quixote\'s imagined chivalric universe and ordinary life.
The book therefore remains very much a substantial literary volume, despite having been prepared specifically for younger readers.
Publisher: George Routledge & Sons
George Routledge & Sons was one of the great British popular publishers of the Victorian era and became especially important in producing affordable literature, illustrated books, children\'s books, classics and gift editions for Britain\'s rapidly expanding reading public.
The title page is especially useful for dating this copy because it actually prints 1880 rather than requiring the date to be inferred from advertisements or binding style.
It also records both sides of Routledge\'s transatlantic operation:
London — Broadway, Ludgate Hill
New York — 416 Broome Street
This copy is therefore unmistakably a dated 1880 publication — approximately 146 years old.
Condition
Good to Very Good antique condition overall, with particularly strong visual presentation for an 1880 juvenile book.
The front board is gorgeous, retaining strong green cloth color, crisp black decoration, bright gilt lettering and an unusually vivid decorative floral centerpiece.
The rear board remains attractive with its blind-stamped ornamental border.
The spine retains its elaborate gilt and black decoration and remains highly legible, including DON QUIXOTE FOR BOYS / COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS / ROUTLEDGE.
There is noticeable age-related wear to the binding, most significantly fraying, chipping and small losses at the head of the spine, with lesser rubbing/wear at the spine ends, edges and corners. The spine gilt has naturally mellowed compared with the brighter front-board decoration.
The interior is surprisingly attractive for its age.
The lovely floral patterned endpapers remain present. Pages exhibit normal age toning, occasional spotting/foxing and minor handling evidence, but the examples photographed remain clean, legible and highly presentable.
The colored illustrations shown retain excellent color.
The text reaches page 377 and FINIS.
Please inspect all photographs carefully, as they form an important part of the condition description and show the actual antique book being offered.
A Very Displayable 19th-Century Classic
What makes this particular book especially appealing is the combination of:
- Dated 1880 publication
- Miguel de Cervantes / Don Quixote
- Victorian adaptation specifically created for young readers
- George Routledge & Sons
- M. Jones / Meredith Jones adaptation
- Colored illustrations
- Elaborate original green publisher\'s cloth
- Extensive gilt and black decoration
- Wonderful polychrome floral front-cover centerpiece
- Decorative Victorian floral endpapers
- Substantial 377-page text
- Highly recognizable literary subject
- Approximately 146 years old
- Excellent display presence
It crosses several collecting categories at once: antiquarian books, Cervantes, Don Quixote, Victorian literature, children\'s literature, juvenile classics, decorative bindings, illustrated books, color-plate books and George Routledge publications.
The adaptation itself is scarce, while this specific dated 1880 decorative issue is considerably more interesting than the numerous plain and later editions of Don Quixote encountered on the market.
Most importantly, it simply looks fantastic on a shelf.
The rich emerald-green cloth, enormous gilt title, ornate spine and colorful floral centerpiece embody the lavish visual language of Victorian publishing. At nearly a century and a half old, it remains remarkably capable of doing exactly what Routledge intended in 1880:
making a young reader want to pick up Don Quixote and discover what on earth this magnificent lunatic was going to do next.
