Digital Encyclopedia

Don Quixote
Explore Mount Vernon's Digital Encyclopedia to learn more about George Washington's affinity for Don Quixote.
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George Washington's personal copies of the literary classic Don Quixote each offer a unique story while providing an invaluable glimpse into the reading habits of the General.
By Kevin J. Hayes
It took several days after George Washington reached Philadelphia during the second week of May 1787 before a quorum of delegates arrived, allowing the Constitutional Convention to begin. Washington spent some of that time renewing his friendship with another convention delegate. One day, he went to Franklin Court on Market Street, where he became reacquainted with Benjamin Franklin, whom Washington had not seen since Franklin had visited the headquarters of the Continental Army in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on behalf of Congress in 1775. The two were happy to see one another after the lapse of a dozen years.
During her father’s absence and ambassadorship, Sarah Franklin Bache and her husband Richard had taken care of Franklin Court. Upon returning from Paris, Benjamin Franklin found his house chock-full of little Baches. There was scarcely enough room for his ample girth or the thousands of books he brought from Europe, so he built a new addition to his home. He enjoyed showing off the new wing and its library, which housed the books he had collected throughout his life. Displaying his library to visitors, Franklin would choose books that suited their tastes and interests. With more than 4,000 volumes, his personal library impressed everyone who visited.
Washington’s correspondence records one work Franklin showed him. When he and Don Diego de Gardoqui—the Spanish envoy to the United States—coincidentally visited Franklin Court at the same time, they toured their host’s library together. Franklin showed them some of the finest books he had obtained in Paris, including the four-volume edition of Don Quixote published in Madrid by Joaquin Ibarra. Commissioned by the Real Academia de la Lengua, which oversaw its publication, the edition is gorgeous.
Printed on distinctive paper, using a new typeface specially designed for it, and illustrated with handsome copperplate engravings, this edition established Don Quixote as a landmark of Spanish literature. Paradoxically, Don Quixote had been recognized as a great book among English readers before it was accepted as a classic in Spain. The Spanish initially saw the work as little more than a burlesque of chivalric romance, but the Real Academia edition made Don Quixote a Spanish national treasure.
Don Quixote was well-known among the founding fathers. Elbridge Gerry, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, owned a four-volume Dublin edition. Alexander Hamilton read Don Quixote in its native Spanish. In his youth, Thomas Jefferson had read it in French, but by the time he sailed for Europe to fulfill his position as minister plenipotentiary to the Court of France, he had realized that a knowledge of Spanish would help his diplomatic work. So he taught himself the language by reading Don Quixote in the original and, later, helped his daughters do the same. John Adams followed a similar pattern; familiar with Don Quixote from his youth, he obtained a Dutch translation to teach himself the language around the time he was appointed commissioner to the Netherlands.
Doug Bradburn discusses what drew Washington to read the book and the history behind the two versions (that now reside in Mount Vernon's vaults).
Kevin J. Hayes, emeritus professor of English at the University of Central Oklahoma, now lives and writes in Toledo, Ohio. He is the author of several books, including The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington: A Life in Books, winner of the 2018 George Washington Prize.