A cultural history of Editorial Gustavo Gili's scientific and technical publishing under Franco, tracing how books were shaped, produced, and received in the complex landscape of authoritarian Spain.
This book is a cultural history of the Gustavo Gili publishing house, one of the most important commercial firms specializing in scientific and technological literature during Franco’s dictatorship. Rather than adopting a narrowly biographical approach—often oscillating between the anecdotal and the hagiographic—this study places the publications themselves at the center of analysis. Seeking to approach the history of scientific publishing from a cultural and sociological perspective, the book examines the forms and uses of these texts, connecting them with the spaces and actors involved in their production, circulation, and reception.
The aim is to shift focus from final products to production processes—from the material characteristics of publications to the various agents in the publishing chain. In this context, a typically overlooked figure—the translator—emerges as a key actor in legitimizing specific versions of foreign scientific texts. By highlighting this role, the book sheds new light on how scientific works were translated, marketed, and distributed in Francoist Spain
