S’instruire et se déplacer : le livre, objet matériel du voyage en Espagne au XVIIe siècle

Abstract

In seventeenth-century France, there was a veritable passion for « all things Spanish ». At the time, in spite of the frequent tensions and conflicts between the two countries, many French people learned Castilian, and this fashion engendered a multitude of printed works – grammars, dictionaries, collections of bilingual dialogues, etc. – to help students learn the language. Thanks to these publications, anyone who wished to travel to Spain could easily begin learning Spanish. Travellers could then set off, taking with them these little books, printed in a small format, portable, and very useful during their stay there. Those wishing to do the « Spanish tour », as it was then known, also made use of another type of book, which corresponded more or less to today’s travel guides. These books, the contents of which ranged from erudite information to very practical details, were also easily transportable, being printed in octavo or sextodecimo format. They could easily be slipped into a lady’s purse, or into the pocket of a man’s doublet, and thus the traveller could take them everywhere. In this paper, we will examine some of these books, both the learning aids and the travel guides, and their main characteristics. These material objects, intimately bound up with travels in Spain, were immensely successful throughout all of the seventeenth century.

Keywords

• France
• Spain
• seventeenth century
• travellers
• bilingual dictionaries
• Spanish grammar books