1 - Colonial Confines

Summary

Chapter 1 presents the contexts for the making and circulation of books in late colonial Peru. It analyses three limiting factors related to society, legislation, and materiality, and concludes that circulation was never unfettered owing to various barriers imposed by the colonial administration. Addressing illiteracy, this chapter shows how educational reforms promoted by contemporary theories of Enlightenment pedagogy and alternative ways of acquiring reading skills created potential book customers. Although a double mechanism of control – before as well as after the publication – determined the book market, actual practice differed from legislation. Finally, an analysis of the material constraints reveals how dependence on paper and printing types restricted Peruvian print production. Notwithstanding these confines, an increasing number of people learned how to read, regulations were not always fully enforced, materials were re-used, and tools were invented, allowing printed commodities to enter the colonial market.