CHAPTER IX

Henceforward the task of the bibliographer is lighter; for, though Cervantes, Lope, and later writers are the subjects of an enormous mass of literature, and are reprinted in editions out of number, it will only be necessary to name the most important. The twelve quartos which form the _Obras Completas_ (1863-64) of Cervantes are open to much damaging criticism; but they contain all his writings, except the conjectural pieces gathered together by D. Adolfo de Castro in his _Varias obras inéditas de Cervantes_ (1874). For a most exhaustive bibliography of Cervantes' writings (Barcelona, 1895) we are indebted to the late D. Leopoldo Rius y Llosellas: a posthumous volume is to follow, but even in its present incomplete state Rius' book is worth more than all previous attempts put together. Editions of _Don Quixote_ abound, and of these Diego Clemencín's (1833-39) deserves special mention for its very learned commentary. A new edition, in course of issue by Mr. David Nutt (1898), presents a text freed from arbitrary emendations which have crept in without authority. Fernández de Navarrete's biography (1819) is still unequalled. Shelton's early English version (1612-20) has been reprinted by Mr. Henley in his series of _Tudor Translations_ (1896). Of later renderings John Ormsby's (1885) is much the best, and is prefaced by a very judicious account of Cervantes and his work. Duffield (1881) and Mr. H. E. Watts (1894) have translated _Don Quixote_ in a spirit of enthusiasm. The _Numancia_ (1885) and _Viaje del Parnaso_ (1883) were both admirably rendered by the late James Young Gibson. Sr. Menéndez y Pelayo's paper on Avellaneda appeared in _Los Lunes de El Imparcial_ (February 15, 1897).

The _Obras_ of Lope, now printing under the editorship of D. Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo, will be definitive; but as yet only eight quartos (including Barrera's _Nueva Biografía_) are available. Lope's _Obras sueltas_ (1776-79) fill twenty-one volumes; but the best reference for readers is to Rivadeneyra, vols. xxiv., xxxv., xxxvii., xli., and xlii., where Lope is incompletely but sufficiently exhibited. M. Arturo Farinelli's _Grillparzer und Lope de Vega_ (Berlin, 1894) is most excellent. Edmund Dorer's _Die Lope-de-Vega Litteratur in Deutschland_ (1877) is a praiseworthy compilation. Ormsby's article in the _Quarterly Review_ (October 1894) is, as might be expected from him, most exact and learned. I am especially indebted to it.

As to the picaresque novels, _Guzmán_ is in Rivadeneyra, vol. iii.; the _Pícara Justina_ in vol. xxxiii., and _Marcos de Obregón_ in vol.