5 - The Reach of Reading Material

Summary

Chapter 5 studies the reach of print by looking into modes of acquisition, various owners, and the uses of books in the viceroyalty of Peru. It shows how books permeated late colonial society on a broad scale, figuring as objects in the inventories of petty merchants, artisans, rural clerics, some women, and others who, in previous centuries, had been far less likely to possess books. Focusing on the traces of usage and the material environment, this chapter illustrates book use, which took place indoors as well as outside, solitarily and in groups, and was led by practices different from today’s, characterised above all by intensive reading, particular emotions, and interactions as well as reading aloud. Such an analysis allows a more nuanced assessment of the many protagonists from different backgrounds who participated in the colonial book market and had access to the contents of print publications.