If Don Alonso Quijano lost his sanity engrossed in his readings, there were also those who almost lost it due to his ingenious alter ego, the nobleman of La Mancha. One of them seems to have been Arturo Xalambrí, a Uruguayan bibliophile who collected 1,000 original editions of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quijote of La Mancha, in 30 languages, of all times and in various formats. His collection contains an edition from 1611, published during the lifetime of Miguel de Cervantes, also the one printed by the Royal Spanish Academy in 1780. Along with these is the first Quixote published in Uruguay, in 1880, which was in turn the first in the region, as well as an edition in Japanese as striking as one printed on very fine sheets of cork or the one illustrated by Salvador Dalí. His, experts say, is the most complete Cervantes collection in South America.
Steps from the legendary Centenario Stadium, the Center for Documentation and Studies of Ibero-America (CEDEI-University of Montevideo) guards these and thousands of other books that are part of the collection and archive of of which 3,000 are dedicated to the life, thoughts and work of the founder of the modern novel. The legacy of Xalambrí motivated Montevideo was named “Cervantine city” in 2015, along with Alcalá de Henares in Spain, Guanajuato in Mexico and Azul in Argentina. In addition, the Cervantes section of his collection was incorporated into the program in 2017. UNESCO Memory of the World.
A sample of the Don Quixotes by Xalambrí was exhibited this week in Durazno, a city located in the center of Uruguay, in an exhibition prepared to celebrate National Book Day, on May 26. Daniela Vairo, a librarian in charge of cataloging, was there, explaining to EL PAIS the uniqueness of each of these books, from the oldest from the 17th century to the most striking from the 20th century, such as the one illustrated by Salvador Dalí and printed in Buenos Aires in 1956. The Uruguayan dedicated his life to searching and finding them, establishing correspondence and friendship with Cervantists from Spain, South and North America. “There is still a lot of material to be discovered,” says Vairo, who began organizing the collection in 2011 and continues to admire the impeccable state of conservation of the books. The librarian also highlights the meticulousness with which Xalambrí prepared the files that allow us to understand the history of the Don Quixotes that came into their hands.
One of the most precious is the copy from the year 1611 with the first part of the Quixote (1605) published in Brussels, during Cervantes’ lifetime, when the second part of the novel (1615) had not yet seen the light of day. This edition was a gift from the Catalan Cervantist Juan Sedó, in 1947, with whom Xalambrí maintained three decades of correspondence. Likewise, among the thousand Don Quixotes They include the first edition in the original language published in England in 1738 and that of the Royal Spanish Academy of 1780, described as “superior in beauty” to all those that had been made in Spain and abroad. And another unique piece, from 1781, is the version of the Quixote translated into English by John Bowle, humanist and Cervantes of the 18th century, renowned commentator on Cervantes’ novel.
The creativity and ingenuity of the varied editions contained in the Xalambrí collection reflect the universality of Cervantes’ work. The format of the books is part of the adventures they tell: risky like the Quixote published entirely on very thin sheets of cork; solemn like those bound in leather or wood; rare ones like the one typed by the Spanish Montserrat Alberich, dedicated to the Uruguayan Cervantist in 1939. And among the jewels of the library the first edition of the Quixote published in Uruguay, which was also the first in South America. The discovery of Xalambrí demonstrated that Cervantes’ novel had been printed in its entirety, in 1880, by the local newspaper The Spanish colonybefore the La Plata (Argentina) edition in 1904, considered until then the first published on the continent.
“From what he states in his letters, I believe that he had special affection for the Montevideo edition of 1880, the first complete one from South America; This discovery of his and the enhancement of it allowed him to begin a relationship and epistolary friendship with the most prominent Cervantists and collectors in the West,” says Elena Ruibal, CEDEI researcher. In these letters you can see Xalambrí’s generosity with his colleagues, says Ruibal: “he put them in contact with each other, he made his activities known through publications in newspapers and magazines.”
The researcher says that Xalambrí commissioned the translation of the chapters corresponding to Don Quixote’s advice to Sancho the governor (42 and 43 of the second part) into Guaraní, Quechua and Neo-Latin, in addition to having them in the typewritten edition. These passages, in which the squire is advised to conduct himself with prudence, humility and wisdom, occupy prominent places in the CEDEI library, as their owner wanted. You can also see compelling volumes in Braille, along with a beautiful Arabic edition and the illustrated version in Hebrew, printed in Jerusalem. Along with a copy with drawings by Walt Disney, an original stands out Quixote became a Samurai supported by Sancho Panza with oriental features. This is a Japanese series of 59 hand-painted drawings by Serizawa Jugaku, published in Kyoto in 1936 and donated by the American collector Carl Keller.
Xalambrí was an “apostolate of the good book,” adds Ruibal, as he himself described his work as a bibliophile, always closely linked to his admiration for Saint Francis of Assisi, to his family life – he married, had two daughters, was widowed. , he remarried― and his job at the Círculo Católico medical institution. “Good books are steps to heaven. Whoever gives them goes up and makes them go up,” the Uruguayan used to repeat.
The book collection is completed with art pieces, such as a sculpture of Don Quixote commissioned by Xalambrí from the celebrated artist Pablo Serrano. Countless magazines, letters, cards, paintings, and objects also show his devotion to the gentleman with the sad figure. That passion accompanied him until his death in 1975 and invites you to experience the joy of reading or rereading this classic that, as the poet Pedro Salinas said, has an essential value: “If the Quixote It is worth something, it is not because of what we professors, or Cervantists, or scholars, or academics see in it, no. He Quixote It is valid only for its capacity to infuse life; to awaken new streams of life in each of its readers.”
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