Abstract
Most works on the Inquisition in New Spain have concluded that book censorship prevented cultural development. The tribunal of the Holy Office in colonial Mexico, like others under the Spanish Crown, certainly used many mechanisms to control the spread of heresy. These included the inspection of shipments of books to the Viceroyalty of New Spain from Europe; making obligatory the submission of book lists for sale there; the inspection of libraries in search of forbidden books or to expurgate others; and the persecution and destruction of specific editions. They also actively propagated a culture of fear, especially upon the issuance of a new edict, the means by which the titles of all prohibited books were communicated. While all these are true, they do not prove that obscurantism resulted. On the contrary, new historical evidence shows us that there was a culture of books in New Spain that was more complex and diverse than we might have expected. This study analyzes numerous documents in order to show how book censorship really worked in the colony.
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