The codex Porras (almost) recovered (the copy of the Cigarral del Carmen by La tía fingida)

Abstract

The codex Porras, which has transmitted two earlier versions of the exemplary novels of Cervantes Rinconete y Cortadillo and of The Celoso Extremeño, and the attributed novel La tía fingida, was copied in the early 17th century and lost in 1823. Since its discovery in 1788, at least six handwritten copies have been made, which served as the basis for the ancient editions of these works. In this work we present the only manuscript copy that has been preserved, the one in the library of the Cigarral del Carmen, which was the textual basis for the edition of the novel La tía fingida in Berlin in 1818. This discovery allows us to know a little better the interventions of the editors of 1818 and gives us the basic testimony of any modern edition that wishes to make known this version of the novel attributed to Miguel de Cervantes since its discovery.