Note 102 — INTRODUCTION TO THE GALATEA.
Herman Oelsner translation
Besides (1) the princeps, published at Alcalá de Henares by Juan Gracián in 1585 there are the following editions of the Galatea: (2) Lixboa, Impressa con licencia de la Sancta Inquisición, 1590; (3) Paris, Gilles Robinot, 1611; (4) Valladolid, Francisco Fernández de Cordona, 1617; (5) Baeza, Juan Bautista Montoya, 1617; (6) Lisboa, Antonio Álvarez, 1618; (7) Barcelona, Sebastián de Cormellas, 1618; (8) Madrid, Juan de Zúñiga (Francisco Manuel de Mena), 1736; (9) Madrid, la Viuda de Manuel Fernández, 1772; (10) Madrid, Antonio de Sancha, 1784; (11) Madrid, Imprenta de Vega, 1805; (12) Madrid, los hijos de Da. Catalina Piñuela, 1829; (13) Paris, Baudry, 1835; (14) Paris, Baudry, 1841; (15) Madrid, Rivadeneyra, 1846; (16) Madrid, Rivadeneyra, 1863; (17) Madrid, Gaspar y Roig, 1866; (18) Madrid, Álvarez hermanos, 1875; (19) Madrid, Nicolás Moya, 1883.
It may be well to state that in Nos. (12), (13), (14), (15), (16) and (17) the Galatea is not printed separately, but forms part of collections of Cervantes's works.
It has hitherto been uncertain whether No. (5) really existed or not. It is noted by Nicolás Antonio (op. cit., vol. ii., p. 105). This Baeza edition is also mentioned under the heading of Romans historiques by Gordon de Percel who, in all likelihood, simply copied the note from Antonio: see De l'usage des romans où l'on fait voir leur utilité & leurs differens caracteres avec une Bibliothèque des romans, accompagnée de remarques critiques sur leur choix et leurs éditions (Amsterdam, 1734), vol. ii., p. 108. Despite the imprint on the title-page, this work was actually issued at Rouen: see a valuable article in the Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France (Paris, 1900, vol. vii., pp. 546-589) by M. Paul Bonnefon who describes Gordon de Percel—the pseudonym of the Abbé Nicolas Lenglet du Fresnoy—as an odious example of an odious type, carrying on the métier d'espion sous couleur d'érudit.
There can now, apparently, be no doubt that an edition of the Galatea was printed at Baeza in 1617, for Rius (op. cit., vol. i., p. 104) states that he possesses a letter from the Marqués de Jerez, dated September 14, 1890, in which the writer explicitly says a copy of this edition was stolen from him at Irún. I do not at all understand what Rius can mean by the oracular sentence which immediately precedes this statement: "No tengo noticia de ejemplar alguno, ni sé que nadie la (i.e. la edición) haya visto."
It has been remarked in the text of this Introduction (p. xxxv) that Cervantes applies the word discreta with distressing frequency to his heroine and her sister shepherdesses. The repetition of this adjective appears to have produced a considerable impression on the Lisbon publisher, Antonio Álvarez, for his edition—No. (6) in the above list—is entitled La discreta Galatea. No. (5) is also said to be entitled La discreta Galatea. But on this point no one, save the Marqués de Jerez de los Caballeros, can speak with any certainty.