Literary Sociability and the Printing Press: Madrid Poetic Academies Published Between 1661 and 1663

Abstract

Towards 1650 the formation of poetical academies is a usual practice in several Spanish cities, and especially in Madrid. However, until the second half of the century there are no prints reproducing a specific Academy session, with the speeches of the literary act and the poems on demand. This publishing phenomenon stands out above all in Madrid, although, to a lesser extent, it reaches a few other Spanish cities. The Jardín de Apolo (1654), published by Melchor de Fonseca y Almeida, is ahead of its true emergence, between 1661 and 1663. The article deals with the printed Madrid academies in those three years, taking into account their editorial characteristics, their participants and, in some cases, the signs of a possible restricted diffusion, still close to the habits of the manuscript circulation.