Readers by Assignment: Premodern Croatian Literature and the Venetian Press

In the first part of the essay, the process of book censorship in Venice in the 16th century is described in basic terms. It is shown that this was an articulated process of print control, and that the administrative steps in the transition of a book from manuscript to print can be reconstructed based on the materials preserved in the State Archives of Venice in the Capi del Consiglio di Dieci holdings. The relevant series of these holdings, which contain documents on administrative preparation for the printing of books, are the Notatorio Registri, in which the records of the printing licences of the Heads of the Council of Ten are kept, and Notatorio Filze, where the original certificates of the Reformers and those of the readers are kept. The Capi del Consiglio di Dieci holdings have been familiar to the scholars who study Croatian books since the 19th century. It seems that earlier researchers were familiar only with the Notatorio Registri series, but not with the Notatorio Filze one, probably due to the difficulties in accessing partially damaged material. As shown by the examples of documents on the printing of books by Croatian writers (Zoranić, Hektorović, Lucić, Čubranović, Bobaljević), Reformers’ certificates and readers’ certificates from the Notatorio Filze series do not only complement the printing licenses of the Notatorio Registri series, but also reveal new information about the earliest recorded readers of premodern Croatian literature. Although these are mostly persons about whom nothing, or very little, is known, it is likely that they read Croatian books while staying in Venice and that they were active in the circle of people connected with the press. Readers by assignment are important not only as readers but also as witnesses of the cultural connections between different Dalmatian cities, and perhaps as the best mediators between old Croatian books and the potential future audience.