Vendem-se impressos a preços cômodos na cidade do Maranhão

The setting for the book is the city of São Luís, sometimes referred to in the documentation as "City of Maranhão", captured by records related to the circulation of printed materials, especially those involved in commercial activities. We have gathered here studies based on a wide documental and bibliographic set, presented in chapters focused both on a history of institutions and on practices, biographical notes and case studies. All have as their central line of reflection the forms and policies that shaped the consumption and commerce of written culture in Maranhão, particularly in its largest city. To this end, they explore the functioning of spaces for the sale and supply of printed matter; the activities of book merchants between Portugal and Maranhão; the reception of printed matter and its commercialization; and the demand for certain literature, sometimes captured by supply. We also present a catalogue with the printed matter advertised in local newspapers, between 1821 and 1834. This contribution to a history of printed literature and reading in Maranhão is, above all, an invitation to readers and researchers to readings that conect the local and the global in broad perspectives, which seek to understand practices, permanences and contradictions of historical agents, discourses and historiographies.