Books, readers and private libraries in 18th century Spain

Abstract

During the Early Modern Age, the private possession of books and in some cases the possessionof actual libraries became more and more common. This would not have been possible withoutsome decisive changes, such as the advances in literacy, the diffusion of new reading practices andthe development of the edition and commercialisation of books. The 18th century was the period inwhich these changes were most significant.This article focuses on the analysis of these changes in our country, while it gives an accountof the main studies about private libraries referred to this century. It analyses the contents of someforty libraries studied until now. Amongst these are, in addition to the libraries of some of the mostrelevant figures of the Spanish Enlightenment, libraries of nobles, clergymen, high posts of theadministration, artists, bourgeois, science men, scholars, academicians and teachers.