Dos prelos da impressão régia, a cultura científica do período joanino (1808-1821)

Abstract

The present study examines the arrival of print in Brazil in 1808 and the routine functioning of the Royal Press in Rio de Janeiro between 1808 and 1821. The questions raised concern the administrative structure of the press, its overheads, the nature of its functional occupations, in short, the entire logic that underpinned the activities of the Portuguese Court s official printing house during the early eighteen hundreds. In a nutshell, this work will attempt to ascertain the place print occupied within this general context. In order to better understand the structure, management routine and everyday running of the Royal Press of Rio de Janeiro, but, more specifically, the uses and functions of the Royal printing press within the context in which it was founded by the Prince Regent D. João, attention was also paid to a specific part of its output, namely titles in the fields of the Sciences and the Arts. Based on an overview of these books, located in the National Library of Rio de Janeiro and in the personal collection of Guita and José Mindlin, in São Paulo, a study was made of the bio-bibliographical characteristics of the authors and their ties with the official powers. It became apparent that the authors of the titles studied were heirs to the illustrious Portuguese tradition. Sharing the same political culture, they had close ties with members of the Court and allegiances to the Prince. In fact, some of these authors actually sat on the Board of Directors of the Royal Press. As such, in addition to the routine and functioning of the Court s printing house in Joanine Rio de Janeiro, and based on the works it published in the fields of the Sciences and the Arts, the present work also examines the formation of scientific culture during the period and the networks of sociability in place in Rio de Janeiro between 1808 and 1921.