One of the oldest editions of 'Don Quixote' is sold for half a million euros in Paris

One of the oldest editions of

had been in a private library since 1936, that of Jorge Ortiz Linares (1894-1965), former Bolivian ambassador to France.

The two volumes of the masterpiece by Miguel de Cervantes have been sold this Wednesday in Paris for 504,000 euros at the Sotheby's auction house.

This is a third edition of the first part —printed in 1608— and a first edition of the second part —printed in 1615—.

The first edition of his

of him, from 1613, was also sold for 403,200 euros.

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"These texts belong to what Goethe called the

in 1827 , that is, works that everyone knows, that everyone lives, that everyone has heard of," said Jean-Baptiste de Proyart, an expert in ancient books that he investigated the route of the copies.

The books were acquired on December 21, 1936 by the Bolivian diplomat Jorge Ortiz Linares, a fervent collector who lived with his family in a small palace in the French capital.

His wife, Graziella Patiño, was the daughter of one of the richest men of the 20th century: the Bolivian magnate Simón Patiño, known as "the king of tin."

Ortiz Linares's residence, located at number 34 Avenue Foch, was a true artistic center of the Parisian high society of the time.

In his library there were not only copies of Cervantes, but also unique editions of the French Descartes, Corneille or Molière.

The diplomat, appointed ambassador of France in 1947, was passionate about manuscripts and old books.

"He collected great Spanish works and those related to Latin America, but also great French works," Anne Heilbronn, director of Sotheby's books and manuscripts department, told EL PAÍS.

We have a copy for you, sir.

At the beginning of the thirties, Ortiz Linares traveled to London to try to acquire some original editions of

by Cervantes, considered the first modern novel.

The diplomat had seen that the Maggs Bros. bookstore—a reference for old books and a supplier to British kings—had unique volumes.

But when he arrived, they had already been sold.

The only thing he could do was leave his data in case new books arrived.

A few years later, he received a phone call from the establishment, according to one of his sons, George Ortiz.

"We have a copy for you, sir," they told him then.

Without hesitating, he got on a plane and soon after, he bought what he so wanted: a third edition of the first part of

and a first edition of the continuation.

He bought them respectively for £100 and £750 at the time, according to Sotheby's.

The third edition was printed by the publisher Juan de la Cuesta in 1608, three years after the first.

"It is the only one corrected by Cervantes," Heilbronn stressed.

“It is the text that today serves as the matrix for all the editions of

and for Cervantes it was the definitive edition of it”, he added.

The second volume corresponds to the first edition of 1615. It is "one of the rarest editions" of the Spanish author, said the auction house.

Both volumes were also bound in England in 1750 for a collector.

First pirated edition of 'Don Quixote'

At the Maggs Bros bookstore, Ortiz Linares also took the opportunity to buy another gem: the original edition of Cervantes's

, from 1613. The book had been bound for Jerôme Bignon, King Louis XIV's first librarian.

“An original edition of one of the rarest texts by Cervantes and which belonged to an important person in France”, summarized Heilbronn.

The three books were part of a batch of 87 volumes from the Ortiz Linares library auctioned by Sotheby's.

Among them was also the first pirated edition of

, printed in 1605 in Lisbon by Jorge Rodríguez and sold for 56,700 euros.

One of its particularities is that it contains the first graphic representation of the hidalgo and his squire.

Other books auctioned were Francisco de Goya's bullfighting illustration

, from 1816. A copy that Valentín Calderera, a Spanish painter, gave to Théophile Gautier, one of the first French admirers of the famous artist.

In addition, three copies of the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, the famous chronicler son of an Inca princess and a Spanish conquistador, were also sold.