Which translation of Don Quixote should you read?

Miguel de Cervantes · Spanish · prose

Cervantes wrote the first modern novel as a comedy, four hundred years ago, in a mock-heroic style that sends up the chivalric romances it imitates. So a translator has to carry two things at once: the jokes and the antique flavour. Do you keep the old-fashioned diction, or let Sancho and the Don talk like people you could meet? That, and how faithful to be to a very long, very digressive book, is the whole question.

Our verdict

For a first read, Edith Grossman (2003) is the modern standard, faithful and funny, with Harold Bloom to lead you in. John Rutherford’s Penguin is the wittiest and most playful. For a free, faithful public-domain version, John Ormsby is clear and dependable. Peter Motteux (1700) is the famous loose one, lively and quotable but not to be trusted on the details.

Best modern read

Edith Grossman

The 2003 standard: faithful, funny, and easy to live inside for a thousand pages.

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Free and faithful

John Ormsby

A clear, scholarly Victorian version, public domain and dependable.

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Wittiest modern

John Rutherford

Penguin’s playful, sharply comic rendering.

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The same passage, side by side

Pick a passage and set two or three translations against each other. An answer can tell you which is “more faithful”; only this lets you hear them.

Passage

A gentleman of La Mancha

Part 1, Ch. 1 · The famous first lines. Watch the diet, the household, and the disputed surname, and how each translator handles the mock-solemn tone.

Showpick up to 3

John Ormsby

1885 · prose · public domain

In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean hack, and a greyhound for coursing. An olla of rather more beef than mutton, a salad on most nights, scraps on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, and a pigeon or so extra on Sundays, made away with three-quarters of his income. The rest of it went in a doublet of fine cloth and velvet breeches and shoes to match for holidays, while on week-days he made a brave figure in his best homespun.

tr. John Ormsby, 1885Buy this edition →

Peter Anthony Motteux

1700 · prose · public domain

In a certain village in La Mancha, in the kingdom of Arragon, of which I cannot remember the name, there lived not long ago one of those old-fashioned gentlemen, who are never without a lance upon a rack, an old target, a lean horse, and a greyhound. His diet consisted more of beef than mutton; and, with minced meat on most nights, lentiles on Fridays, and a pigeon extraordinary on Sundays, he consumed three quarters of his revenue; the rest was laid out in a plush coat, velvet breeches, with slippers of the same, for holydays; and a suit of the very best homespun cloth, which he bestowed on himself for working-days.

tr. Peter Motteux, 1700Buy this edition →

The field at a glance

Translation	Year	Voice	Approach	Notes	In a word
John Ormsby Prose · public domain	1885	Period	Faithful	Annotated	For a century the default English Quixote, and still a fine free one.	Buy →
Peter Anthony Motteux Prose · public domain	1700	Period	Fluid	Clean	The lively rogue of the tradition.	Buy →
Edith Grossman Prose	2003	Modern	Balanced	Some notes	The version that put Don Quixote back on nightstands.	Buy →
John Rutherford Prose	2000	Modern	Balanced	Some notes	The funniest modern Quixote.	Buy →

Not sure? Find my translation →

Every translation in depth

John Ormsby

1885 · public domain

ProsePeriodFaithfulMiddleAnnotated

For a century the default English Quixote, and still a fine free one. Ormsby is faithful and careful, with none of the padding or comic embroidery earlier translators added, and his notes are genuinely useful. The prose is clear late-Victorian English, a touch formal to a modern ear but never stiff, and he serves Cervantes’ meaning rather than punching up the jokes. If you want the whole book, accurately, at no cost, Ormsby is the reliable choice.

The standard scholarly English version for a century; the basis of several later revisions.

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Peter Anthony Motteux

1700 · public domain

ProsePeriodFluidMiddleClean

The lively rogue of the tradition. Motteux, working partly from a French version, gives Cervantes a broad, farcical English full of energy, and for two centuries it was how most English readers met the Don. It is also unreliable: it invents, it coarsens, and it drops the odd howler (his opening plants La Mancha in the kingdom of Aragon, which it is not). Read Motteux for fun and for the flavour of an older comic English, not to know exactly what Cervantes wrote.

Hugely popular from 1700 on; sharply criticised by later translators, Ormsby among them, for its liberties.

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Edith Grossman

2003 · in copyright

ProseModernBalancedPlainSome notes

The version that put Don Quixote back on nightstands. Grossman writes clear, warm, contemporary English that keeps the comedy alive without dragging it into slang, and Harold Bloom’s introduction frames the book as the first and greatest novel. Purists note she smooths some of Cervantes’ knottier period texture, but for a reader who simply wants to enjoy the whole thing, this is the one that carries you. Her footnotes are well judged and never intrusive.

The best-selling modern English Quixote; widely adopted in classrooms since 2003.

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John Rutherford

2000 · in copyright

ProseModernBalancedPlainSome notes

The funniest modern Quixote. Rutherford treats the book as the comic masterpiece it is and works hard to make the jokes, the puns, and Sancho’s garbled proverbs actually land in English, which sometimes means recreating rather than translating them. Some readers love the invention; a few want a straighter mirror of the Spanish. Either way it reads beautifully aloud and never feels like homework.

The Penguin Classics edition; a critical favourite for its comic verve.

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Which book is which translation?

Publishers and retailers are careless about naming the translator. Here is which edition carries which version.

Edition	Translation	Format	Mapping
Ecco Ecco, 2003 · intro Harold Bloom	Edith Grossman	Paperback	Inferred — not yet copyright-page verified	Buy →
Penguin Classics Penguin, 2003	John Rutherford	Paperback	Inferred — not yet copyright-page verified	Buy →

We verify the top in-print editions against the actual copyright page and show the confidence for each. Spotted a wrong mapping? Tell us.

Questions

What is the best translation of Don Quixote?

There is no single best, only the best for you. See the verdict at the top for our picks by priority (closest to the original, most readable, best value), then use the side-by-side passages and the quiz to choose.

How many translations of Don Quixote are there?

We compare 4 notable English translations here, from the public-domain classics to the current in-print versions, with the same passages set side by side.

Which Don Quixote translation is easiest to read?

Look at the “Voice” and “Approach” columns in the table: the most modern, most fluid version is usually the easiest first read. The quiz will point you to it based on your taste.

Are the excerpts accurate?

Public-domain excerpts are reproduced verbatim from a cited source and checked against it. In-copyright translations are quoted only as short excerpts beside a link to that edition. We name the translator and edition for every excerpt.