Poetry books in some Spanish libraries in the Golden Age (1600-1650)

Abstract

This study analyses the book inventories found in 65 Spanish private libraries between 1600 and 1650, from different social classes. After mentioning the problems posed by the sources of information themselves and comparing the presence of poetry versus other literary genres, we have analysed the proportion of poetry books found in the studied libraries, in order to compare it with the presence of other type of books, taking into account the difference of social classes. It is essential to analyse which authors and works are found in these libraries to reach any conclusion about the «literary excellence canon» in that century, as well as the differences with the literary canon according to the history of literature and the meaning of the presence/absence of some specific poets, etc.