Bibles and Tracts in Motion

Abstract

Abstract This chapter is a case study of the operations of two London-based evangelical publishers in Brazil between 1870 and 1900: the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) and the Religious Tract Society (RTS). The chapter concentrates on the experiences of itinerant booksellers called colporteurs. They circulated an impressive number of Bibles and evangelical tracts throughout the country that far outnumbered the sales of Brazil’s best-selling authors. The chapter explores the interactions of colporteurs with customers, their encounters with Catholic priests and believers, and the reading practices that emerged out of the circulation of Christian texts. It also examines the rise of a Lusophone evangelical public sphere by tracing the flow of texts, people, and ideas throughout the transatlantic conduits of the BFBS and the RTS in Brazil, Portugal, Madeira, and Britain.