In the fall of 2005, the Brown University Library celebrated the 400th anniversary of the publication of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de La Mancha with an exhibit featuring book illustrations and title pages from the first edition of this novel in 1605 to 2004.

Considered to be the first modern novel and one of the most widely read, publishers worldwide have produced many unique illustrated editions of El Quijote over the last four centuries. World-renowned artists such as William Hogarth, Jean-Honoeé Fragonard, Honoré Daumier, Gustave Doré, Francisco de Goya, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso have portrayed the character of Don Quixote from a madman to a misunderstood hero.

This project, a digital version of physical exhibit, reproduces illustrations of El Quijote created before the turn of the 20th century and printed in editions held in the Brown University Library. Visitors will be able to access numerous renditions of Don Quixote by Charles-Antoine Coypel, John Vanderbank, Antonio Carnicero, José Brunete, François Marie Isidore Queverdo, Manuel Peleguer, José Rivelles y Helip, Robert Smirke, Henry Liverseege, Pierre Choquet, Thomas Stothard, Richard Westall, Gustave Doré, and Gustave Pierre Eugène Staal to name a few.