Censura y prensa periódica a finales del siglo XVIII: El caso del Semanario erudito (1787-1791)

Abstract

How did censorship operate in Spain in the last decades of the eighteenth century? This article considers one periodical-the Semanario Erudito-as a case study. Extant correspondence between the editor (Antonio Valladares de Sotomayor), the Consejo de Castilla, and the censors (primarily Ignacio López de Ayala and Santos Díez González) allow us to view the censorship process and the attitudes of the participants in the process. After introducing Valladares and reviewing the laws that regulated the printing of periodicals, we examine requests for printing licenses made by the editor and the justifications of the censors and the Consejo for their decisions. While the censors and the Consejo sought to maintain ideological and legal control over what was published, the correspondence shows that they were also interested in making important, useful documents available to the reading public and in insuring that what was printed was correct and accurate.