The Madrid Book Trade in the Late Eighteenth Century

FAIN: FT-14061-78

Diana M. Thomas
UCLA; Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA 90024-4201)

To study the archives of the Royal Company of Printers and Booksellers of Spain, 1763-1833, which provides detailed printing and publishing information for over 400 non-liturgical titles. Charles III made this company his means of revitalizing the Spanish book trade, so the records allow an assessment of his policies not only for improving the economy through providing more work for artisans such as printers and papermakers, but also in improving the intellectual climate by making better books more widely available. No study has as yet been made on this subject, which will yield a great deal of information about the practices of this period.