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The Bookrunner: A History of Inter-American Relations — Print, Politics, and Commerce in the United States and Mexico, 1800–1830

2013; Duke University Press; Volume: 93; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1215/00182168-2077189

1527-1900

John A. Britton,

Historical Studies in Latin America

The historical roles of publishers and booksellers in the dissemination of ideas are often underrated, especially by historians and other observers rooted in the era of the Internet. Nancy Vogeley has researched and written a detailed study of an early nineteenth- century Philadelphia publishing house that printed and sold books and pamphlets for the market of the newly independent Mexico. This work provides a rare microhistorical glimpse into an enterprise that was at once both commercial and intellectual. Influenced by Robert Darnton and Benedict Anderson, Vogeley examines the dispersed but active (and interactive) communities of political leaders, ideological enthusiasts, and book dealers in Philadelphia, other US cities, Veracruz, and Mexico City during the crucial span from 1821 to 1823. The United States had won its independence from Britain four decades earlier and furnished examples of revolutionary activism and nation building that appealed to Mexicans advocating for representative democracy during the rule of Emperor Augustín I, the former military caudillo Augustín de Iturbide. The focal point of Vogeley’s study is not the origins of Mexico’s independence movement but rather the efforts to import ideas and institutions from the United States, along with Britain and France, in order to find a formula for creating a functional, stable representative government in Mexico. Emperor Augustín I opposed these efforts, but his empire collapsed in February 1823 and was followed by the chaotic period dominated by Antonio López de Santa Anna. The earnest republicans worked against the empire in 1821 – 1823 but were subsequently defeated by the machinations of Santa Anna and other caudillos. Nevertheless, the frustrated work of these republicans at nation building deserves the attention it receives in this volume.Vogeley relies on a cache of letters and other documents exchanged between the printer and publisher Matthew Carey and his agent and bookseller Thomas Robeson. These manuscript sources, running from July 1822 to January 1823, offer insights into the business of translating (from English and French to Spanish) and printing books and pamphlets for Mexican readers, as well as the problems of navigating that nation’s complex and somewhat amorphous market for the printed word. Vogeley also explores the political and cultural environment of Mexico immediately after its independence and explicates Robeson’s letters, quoting some of them at great length. They offer the perspective of a bookrunner: by her definition not a book smuggler but one who operated on the margins of legal activity. In his letters Robeson commented on the political situation in Mexico, the market for books there, and the challenges facing a foreign entrepreneur in Veracruz and Mexico City. In letters dated August 23 and 26 from Veracruz, Robeson describes the condition of the city, the methods of English business agents, and the problems faced in arranging the shipment of books to Mexico City. After reaching the Mexican capital he penned his November 23 letter, which contained observations on the government of “his imperial Majesty Augustín I” (p. 128) and on the powerful influence of the Catholic Church on the market for books. Vogeley also quotes Robeson’s December 10 letter, in which he reported that Santa Anna had turned against Emperor Augustín I.In addition to these letters, Vogeley discusses the books that stirred the greatest interest in Mexico: Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man and Jean- Jacques Rousseau’s Social Contract. She also discusses several works originally written in Spanish and sold by Carey and Robeson: James Philip Puglia’s El desengaño del hombre and Juan Germán Roscio’s Triunfo de la libertad sobre el despotismo, as well as reprints of the writings of Bartolomé de Las Casas. These and other publications drew the attention of those who hoped to establish representative democracy in Mexico. Political figures such as Carlos María de Bustamante and Fray Servando Teresa de Mier were prominent in this movement, as was bookstore owner Manuel Recio. Carey also printed several volumes of Masonic literature in Spanish for the Mexican book market. Robeson’s arrival in Mexico coincided with the appearance of Joel Roberts Poinsett as the representative of the administration of President James Monroe. Poinsett’s diplomatic duties did not deter his promotion of the York Rite branch of Freemasonry in Mexico, which helped the Carey- Robeson bookselling venture.The strength of this volume comes in its use of the Carey- Robeson correspondence, which offers unique insights into Mexican culture and politics as well as both the international publishing business and Philadelphia’s Hispanic community. There remains a need to integrate this valuable research more fully into the broader framework of the early national period of Mexican and Latin American history. The importation of the books published by Carey and the ideas they contained did not lead to the creation of the institutions of representative government sought by Bustamante and Mier; rather, the struggle to build democratic practices and national identities in Mexico continued for generations. Vogeley has made a fundamental contribution to our understanding of this effort.