Nicolas Bas Martin

Nicolas Bas Martin is full professor in the History of Science and Documentation Department of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Valencia. His research has focused on the history of the book in the 18th century, in particular on the circulation of ideas and books between Spain and France, and more recently on the study of the image of Spain through the world of books in France, England and the Netherlands. He is currently completing research on the world of libraries formed in the Europe of the Enlightenment, based on a Grand Tour. He has presented his research at various national and international conferences, as well as at the Universities of Turin, ENS Paris, EHESS Paris, and the École Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de l'Information et Documentation (ENSSIB) in Lyon. He has also been invited to serve as Associate Director of Studies for the DEA 2019 program at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (FMSH).

The project

Title : Areas of libertinism in 18th-century French forbidden books

"The present research work is entitled: Domaines de libertinage dans les livres interdits français du XVIIIe siècle. The eighteenth century was the century par excellence of the forbidden book, a century in which France, and particularly its capital, Paris, considered the cultural epicenter of the moment, led what might be called the phenomenon. In this new Babylon, where some of the most illustrious minds of the time were concentrated, texts were to be published that would change the course of hitherto known knowledge. These were the bad books, also known as philosophical books. This term encompassed strictly philosophical books and anti-religious treatises, as well as political pamphlets, scandalous chronicles and libertine novels. It is precisely in these books, especially those of an erotic nature, that we find how text and image fit into the libertine program and the materialism of the philosophers. Interior spaces become settings in which to eroticize readers. Bibliographic temples to love that use a whole range of opulent materials (furniture, curtains, beds) to sexualize the premises. Books, boudoirs, cabinets and women reading complete this architecture of private life."

Hosting institution: École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE)

Selective Bibliography

• N. Bas Martín, El correo de la Ilustración. Libros y lecturas en la correspondencia entre Cavanilles y el librero parisino Fournier (1790-1802) (Madrid: Ollero y Ramos, 2013).
• N. Bas Martín, Spanish books in the Europe of the Enlightenment (Paris and London). A View from Abroad (Leyden: Brill, 2018).
• N. Bas Martín, ¡Confinados! Creación literaria y reclusión en el Siglo de las Luces (Valencia: Contrabando, 2022).  
• N. Bas Martín, “De la circulation des livres et des idées entre l’Espagne et la France au 18e siècle: la correspondance entre le botaniste Cavanilles et le libraire Fournier”. En Sabine Juratic, Annie Charon et Isabelle Pantin, L’Annonce faite au lecteur, (Louvain: Presses Universitaires, 2016), pp. 111-132.
• N. Bas Martín, “La alargada sombra del Quijote: la recepción del libro español en el París del siglo XVIII”, en Paloma Bravo, Nathalie Peyrebonne, Pauline Renoux-Carron, Hélène Tropé (dir.), Textes en mouvement. Transmettre, échanger, collectionner au Siècle d’or (Paris: Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2021), pp. 281-303.  
• N. Bas Martín, “Faisons connaître les Espagnols. La imagen de España a través del mundo del libro parisino del siglo XVIII”, Les langues néo-latines, nº 392, 114º année, mars 2020. Disponible en: https://neolatines.com/slnl/wp-content/uploads/Supplement_392_SLNL.pdf
• N. Bas Martín, “The circulation of books and ideas between Spain and England at the end of the 18th century: the correspondence of Cavanilles with Joseph Banks and James Edward Smith”, Histoire et civilisation du livre, XIX, 2023. pp. 321-343.