The Quixote restored by Feliciano Ortego. The editorial adventure of a nineteenth century physician who thought he owned a copy of the Quixote annotated by Cervantes

Abstract

Around 1880, Feliciano Ortego, a doctor established in Palencia, got a copy of one of the first editions of Quijote that included notes made by a Cervantes contemporary reader that he identified as Cervantes himself. Ortego censures both first Cervantes editor, who did not take into account such notes in the following editions, as well as the excessive amount of corrections made by critics, and he edits a copy making up in the text the indications of annotator. He also published another book (La Restauración del Quijote) in order to defend the supposed notes authenticity. Ortego’s works were fiercely criticized by cervantistas, but he continued defending his arguments publishing both a letter and an opuscule to Menéndez Pelayo, to whom he identifies as the main responsible of his editorial failure.