
George Washington’s copy of The History and Adventures of the Renowned Don Quixote
By Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, translated by Tobias Smollett
London: W. Longman et al., 1786
A conversation at the home of Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia may have inspired Washington to read the epic Spanish novel, Don Quixote. Washington purchased this English edition on September 17, 1787, the very day that the Constitutional Convention concluded.
Gift of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, 1983 [ML-267-W]