The House of Miguel de Cervantes in Valladolid, Spain*
"In Valladolid, readers of Don Quixote can stroll through the house occupied by Miguel de Cervantes from 1602 to 1605, the year in which the first part of the novel was published, and experience a voyeuristic thrill . . . . The house, though carefully restored, has necessarily been furnished with bits and pieces that never were in Crevantes's possession. Only the study, on the second floor, contains a few objects that most certainly belonged to him: not the "ebony and ivory" desk described in the will of his daughter, Isabel de Cervantes, but another, also mentioned in the document, "made of walnut, the largest one I possess," two paintings, one of Saint John and the other of the Virgin, a copper brazier, a chest for keeping papers and a single bookshelf holding some of the titles mentioned in his work. In this room he wrote several stories for his Exemplary Novels, and here he must have discussed with his friends the conception of his singular Quixote."
Alberto Manguel, The Library at Night, pp. 182-3.
*By Lourdes Cardenal - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
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