Part One of Don Quixote first appeared in English in 1612.
The translation was produced by Thomas Shelton, whose English version of Cervantes’s First Part was published in London in 1612. It followed the Spanish first edition by only seven years, allowing English readers to encounter the novel while Cervantes was still alive.
Shelton’s edition was not a translation of the complete two-part work. Cervantes published the original First Part in 1605, while the authentic Spanish Second Part appeared in 1615. Shelton translated that later part as well, and the two English parts were brought together in a 1620 publication.
This timeline explains a frequent confusion: 1605 is the year of the Spanish First Part, 1612 is the year of its first English appearance, and 1620 is associated with Shelton’s English completion of both parts.