Resumen de Books and cities: book commerce in 18th Century Portuguese cities and the learned sociabilities
One of the main characteristics of learned sociabilities in the 18 th Century was the production and circulation of books transmitting news, scientific discoveries, voyage narratives to exotic lands – particularly those of recent European contact – and philosophical polemical debates around disciplinary paradigms. This paper will try to see how the presence of books in Portugues cities of the 18 th Century was perceived and represented by foreign travelers – whether they were scientist or not – who travelled through Portugalduring the second half of that century and publish their voyage narratives. The foreign view will be confronted with the state of the art on the history of the written word in the Portuguese Empire, which allows us to know the commerce, circulation and possession of printed works as fundamental aspects of urban existence in that period.
