The The movement of the books in the New Spain: considerations on inquisitorial testimonies

Abstract

The written culture of the new-Spaniard period left numerous bibliographical and documentary evidences that we preserve in numerous national and foreign repositories. Nevertheless, for numerous reasons we have not completed a more or less precise panorama of the different types of historical evidences that bear witness to the presence of the books in a stage of more than two hundred years. All these documents were the result of very specific administrative processes, like commercial or inquisitorial processes. Especially, the testimonies generated by the Court of the Holy Trade Office of New Spain, have been slightly studied and in consequence they have not been characterized depending on the process of which they are proved. This text analyzes the characteristics of three different types of historical documents that were elaborated in fulfillment of inquisitorial instructions, thanks to which we could have answered also a set of questions on the culture of the book in this American territory.