Published in Madrid by Francisco de Robles and printed by Juan de la Cuesta in two parts (1605 and 1615), it is widely considered the first modern novel.
Follows the La Mancha hidalgo Alonso Quijano, whose obsession with chivalric romances leads him to ride out as Don Quixote on Rocinante with the farm labourer Sancho Panza as squire.
Part Two (1615) introduces metafictional characters who have read Part One, ending with Quixote's defeat on the beach at Barcelona and his deathbed return to sanity.