This book is a volume in the Penn Press Anniversary Collection. To mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, the University of Pennsylvania Press rereleased more than 1,100 titles from Penn Press's distinguished backlist from 1899-1999 that had fallen out of print. Spanning an entire century, the Anniversary Collection offers peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of subject areas.

Percy's Reliques is the seminal collection of historical and lyrical ballads that defined English literature at the end of the 18th century. This study examines his working methods.

"Many critics regard Cervantes's Don Quixote as the most influential literary book on British literature. Indeed the impact on British authors was immense, as can be seen from 17th-century plays by Fletcher, Massinger and Beaumont, through the great 18th-century novels of Fielding, Smollett, Sterne, and Lennox, and on into more modern and contemporary novelists. 20th-century critics, fascinated by Cervantes, were moved to write what we now see as the classical works of Cervantes scholarship. Through their previous publications, the eminent contributors to this volume have helped to determine the reception of Cervantes in Britain. Together they now offer a comprehensive and innovative picture of this topic, discussing the English translations of Cervantes's works, the literary genres which developed under his shadow, and the best-known authors who consciously emulated him. Cervantes's influence upon British literature emerges as decidedly the deepest of any writer outside of English and, very possibly, of any writer since the Renaissance."

Besides an Introduction, Bibliography and "Centenary Reappraisal", eighteen original articles by respected Hispanists from Britain, Spain and the United States have been collected in this homage volume. A high proportion of articles reflect Peers’ major interests in mysticism and the Romantic Movement. Part I, From the Middle Ages to the Siglo de Oro, includes essays that deal with Francisco de Osuna’s "higher memory", the "Dark Night" of San Juan de la Cruz, Judaeo-Islamic traditions in Luis de León and Miguel de Molinos’ Spiritual Guide. Part II, From the Dawn of Romanticism to the Twentieth Century, contains articles concerned with writers, works or themes as: Sánchez’s Colección and Percy’s Reliques, Rivas and tragedy, El moro expósito, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Victor Hugo and "La Nonne sanglante". An article, dealing comparatively with Goytisolo and Zorrilla, which provides "A Missing Link in the Dis-affiliation of a Post-Romantic Expatriate in Revolt?" aptly concludes the volume.

In Spanish Books in the Europe of the Enlightenment (Paris and London) Nicolás Bas examines the image of Spain in eighteenth-century Europe, and in Paris and London in particular. His material has been scoured from an exhaustive interrogation of the records of the book trade. He refers to booksellers’ catalogues, private collections, auctions, and other sources of information in order to reconstruct the country’s cultural image. Rarely have these sources been searched for Spanish books, and never have they been as exhaustively exploited as they are in Bas’ book. Both England and France were conversant with some very negative ideas about Spain. The Black Legend, dating back to the sixteenth century, condemned Spain as repressive and priest-ridden. Bas shows however, that an alternative, more sympathetic, vision ran parallel with these negative views. His bibliographical approach brings to light the Spanish books that were bought, sold and ultimately read. The impression thus obtained is likely to help us understand not only Spain’s past, but also something of its present.

This book seeks to bridge a gap in the historiography of Spain and Great Britain by arguing that while the eighteenth century witnessed periods of tension, conflict and hostility between the two powers, their relationship remained multifaceted and significant in other spheres. Throughout the eighteenth century, Spain and Great Britain passed through phases of open warfare, armed peace and deep suspicion. The British capture of Gibraltar and Menorca dealt a severe blow to the newly established Bourbon dynasty in Spain. Even in times of war, however, not all communication channels were closed, with numerous formal and informal contacts being made despite the volatile political climate and enmities. The contributors of this book go beyond the well-known animosity and conflicts to explore the spectrum of interactions, encompassing cultural exchange, traditional diplomacy, trade and espionage plus a multitude of other facets. This book is a valuable resource for researchers and students interested in the complex relations between Great Britain and Spain during the eighteenth century, as well as for a broader audience of historians and both undergraduate and postgraduate students of history and international relations.