Today, in 1605, the first edition of the famous novel Don Quixote by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid. The full title of the piece was El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha (Bistri knight Don Quixote de Manche), and the first edition was dedicated to the Duke of Béjar, one of the richest Spanish aristocrats of the time. Cervantes was already near the age of 60 at the time of this release and later wrote a sequel to his work. The first edition had 400 copies, and interestingly, most were reportedly shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to America, where publisher Francisco de Robles hoped to get a higher price. Don Quixote’s Cervantes soon gained immense popularity, so several new editions were published the same year. Unfortunately, Miguel de Cervantes did not particularly profit from this popularity because he had already sold his rights to the publisher before printing the first issue.
