On the facade of number 87 hangs a plaque from 1905, put up for the third centenary of , and the paper the book was first printed on here was paid for with borrowed money.
The print shop that stood here had been hanging by a thread for years. It belonged to María Rodríguez de Ribalde, widow of the printer Pedro Madrigal, and was run by Juan de la Cuesta, a man from Segovia who had little to his name and had to keep borrowing just to keep the presses turning. The order came from the bookseller , the book was typeset late in 1604 with 1605 printed on the title page, and what came off those presses was riddled with typos, something the proofreader Francisco Murcia de la Llana dutifully noted at the back. Nobody minded, because the whole run was gone within a few months and Robles had a second printing made straight away.
Behind the door you'll find the , which has been here since 1953 and has restored the workshop, building an exact replica of the press with its loose type. The place only opens at set times, though, so if you want to look inside, check ahead.
Heading towards the centre, a few hundred metres on, the Calle de Santa Isabel begins on your left.
Sources. Story: Ayuntamiento de Madrid, esMadrid: imprenta de Juan de la Cuesta; José Manuel Lucía Megías, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Centro de Estudios Cervantinos; Biblioteca Nacional de España, on the editions of 1604 and 1605. Photos: Title page of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, Madrid, Juan de la Cuesta, 1605, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
