Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to analyze the publishing processes of the Dicionário bibliográphico português (1858-1923) and the Dicionário bibliográphico brazileiro (1883-1902) and the place occupied by Portuguese and Brazilian governments to sustain those originally private initiatives.

Paper long abstract:

Publishing a bibliographical dictionary is one of the many criteria to evaluate the greatness of a civilization and the glory of a nation in the nineteenth century. First in Portugal, Inocêncio Francisco da Silva aimed to write such a « national monument » dedicated to the glory of his homeland since 1858, a tough work that needed more than four decades to put an end to, since he decided to include Brazilian works in the 22 volumes of the Dicionário bibliográphico português, partly published after his death in 1876.

Yet, in 1883, Sacramento Blake, a Brazilian man of letters, thought Brazil needed to possess its own bibliographical dictionary, the Dicionário bibliográphico brazileiro, which counts 7 volumes published till 1902.

Both the Dicionário bibliográphico português and the Dicionário bibliográphico brazileiro were published by the respective National printing offices with public grants, although both dictionaries are originally private initiatives of their respective authors. The reputation accumulated by those two long-term publications encouraged the governments to give some symbolic awards and real rewards to the authors.

This paper proposes to compare Portuguese and Brazilian public support to that long-term editings, focusing particularly in the Portuguese case, as far as the Dicionário bibliográphico português included Brazilian literature and earned Inocêncio Francisco da Silva a transatlantic readership, recognition and support to continue his hard work.