277 - CERVANTES, Miguel de. VIERGE, Daniel.

CERVANTES, Miguel de. VIERGE, Daniel. The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, illustrated by Daniel Vierge. Paris, Librairie Hachette et Cie, 1909. 4 volumes, large quarto (29 x 21 cm). (8)-374-(1) pp., (6)-397-(2) pp., (6)-415-(2) pp., and (6)-423-(2) pp., 260 illustrations. Contemporary havana morocco leather, spine with raised ribs, author, title, and volume number gilded, compartments decorated with blind-stamped scrolls accented with dotted lines and gilt fillets, triple framing of gilt fillets and a blind-stamped fillet on the compartments, covers and endpapers, the latter adorned with gilt metal stamps in the spandrels, guilloché caps, double gilt fillet on the edges, endpapers and half-leather linings lined with fawn-colored tabis, double marbled paper endpapers, gilt edges, covers and spine with preserved gilt stamping, all housed in morocco slipcases with bias-cut edges [Meunier] (minimal scuffing on the cases). Provenance: Ex-libris stamped “Aimé Laurent.” Description: An exceptional copy. Richly illustrated in black with etched vignettes in the text or plates engraved after Daniel Vierge, including a portrait of the author, the signed “avant la lettre” proof bearing the artist’s signature mark, and another photogravure portrait of the artist with his autographed name. Limited edition of only 350 copies; this is no. 9, one of the 10 first copies printed on Imperial Japanese paper. With a black-and-white frontispiece. Enriched with 35 lithographs by Célestin Nanteuil, taken from the rare 1855–1856 Mellado edition published in Madrid. Bound within the text, in black and white, printed on bistre-colored China paper mounted on thick white vellum, signed “Célestin Nanteuil Madrid,” including a portrait of Don Quixote in Volume I and a large-format portrait in Volume III. Bound with portraits of Cervantes taken from Ricardo de Los, including two prints with annotations. A monumental edition of Don Quixote, considered a deluxe production, said to have been “produced for the 1909 New Year’s gifts.” The copies on Japanese paper were sold by subscription and not made available for general sale. A very fine copy in a beautiful morocco binding by Meunier. Painter and illustrator Daniel Vierge (1851–1904) was the son of Urrabieta Ortiz, a renowned Spanish illustrator. He contributed to the artistic revival of wood engraving by reviving Gustave Doré’s “wood in color” technique, lending his drawings an expressive graphic style.