MANUALS AND SCHOLASTIC PUBLISHING IN NAPLES (1806-1820)

Abstract The contribution focuses on the textbooks adopted in the schools of the Kingdom of Naples (1806-1815) and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1816-1820) and the printing companies active in the school textbook sector. The events of the printing-publishing market are placed in the context of the educational reform carried out during the French Decade, which constituted the historical condition for the development of the textbook market. The research is mainly based on indirect sources due to the unavailability of primary sources. The analysis conducted on the institutional side makes it possible to identify the texts and authors indicated by the State in order to modernise teaching. The reconnaissance carried out on printers/publishers returns the productive geography of school publishing in the period considered. Publishing activity remained relegated to the capitals of the kingdoms and was almost completely absent in the provinces, which lacked a productive fabric but not a school market.