Don Quijote again. Encounters with people who have read Book 1 occur several times in Book 2. For instance, in Chapter 30, on p.758:
... Preguntóle la duquesa, cuyo título aún no se sabe:
- Decidme, hermano escudero: este vuestro señor, ¿no es uno de quien anda impresa una historia que se llama del Ingenioso Hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, que tiene por señora de su alma a una tal Dulcinea del Toboso?
- El mesmo es, señora - respondió Sancho -; y aquel escudero suyo que anda, o debe de andar, en la tal historia, a quien llaman Sancho Panza, soy yo, si no es que me trocaron en la cuna; quiero decir, que me trocaron en la estampa.
... The duchess, whose title is no longer known, asked him:
"Tell me, brother squire: This master of yours, is he not someone about whom there has been printed a `History', which is called `of the Ingenious Nobleman Don Quijote de la Mancha', who has as the mistress of his heart a certain Dulcinea of Toboso?"
"He is the very one, lady" answered Sancho, "and that squire of his who goes, or ought to go, through that same story, who is called Sancho Panza, am I, unless I was switched in the cradle, I mean, at the printer's."
A complication is that, between Cervantes' publication of Books 1 and 2 of Don Quijote, another author wrote his own sequel to the first book (taking up a suggestion that Cervantes made on the last page of Book 1, and doubtless later regretted). So they also encounter people who have read, and generally disliked, Avellaneda's sequel. For instance, in Chapter 59, p.967:
- Por vida de vuestra merced, señor don Jerónimo, que en tanto que trae la cena leamos otro capítulo de la segunda parte de don Quijote de la Mancha.
Apenas oyó su nombre don Quijote, cuando se puso en pie, y con oído alerto escuchó lo que dél trataban, y oyó que el tal don Jerónimo referido respondió:
- ¿Para qué quiere vuestra merced, señor don Juan, que leamos tales disparates? ...
"By your honor's life, Don Geronimo, while the dinner lasts, let us read another chapter of the second part of `Don Quijote de la Mancha'."
As soon as Don Quijote heard his name, he stood up and listened alertly to what was being said about him, and heard this certain Don Geronimo answer:
"Why, Don Juan, does your honor wish us to read such foolishness? ..."
As for a reference to the author, this occurs on p.75 in the first book. The priest and barber of Don Quijote's town decide that since reading has driven him mad, they should burn most of his books, saving only a few that seem worthwhile. After discussing the merits and faults of various books and authors -
- ... Pero ¿ qué libro es ese que está junto a él?
- La Galatea, de Miguel de Cervantes - dijo el barbero.
- Muchos años ha que es gran amigo mío ese Cervantes, y sé que es más versado en desdichas que en versos. Su libro contiene algo de invención; propone algo, y no concluye nada: es menester esperar la segunda parte que promete; quizá con la enmienda alcanzará del todo la misericordia que ahora se niega; y entre tanto que esto se ve, tenedlo recluso en vuestra posada, señor compadre.
- Que me place - respondió el barbero ...
"... But what is that book that is next to it?"
" `La Galatea', by Miguel de Cervantes," said the barber.
"That Cervantes has been a good friend of mine for many years, and I know that he is more versed in misfortune than in verses. His book contains some inventiveness; it begins something and finishes nothing: we must wait for the second part which it promises; perhaps, completed, it will receive from all the merciful treatment which is now denied it; and till this is seen, keep it apart in your dwelling, my good friend."
"Which I am happy to do," answered the barber ... .
But according to a footnote, Cervantes never did publish a second part to La Galatea.
Another early case of a character in a book referring to the author is in the opening sentences of Huckleberry Finn (1885). Not nearly so early as Cervantes, but worth quoting:
You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. ...