At a recently held doctoral workshop, organised as part of the Premodern History PhD programme at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, doctoral assistant Marta Jurković successfully defended her doctoral research proposal.
The working title of her thesis is Private libraries in Venetian Istria and Dalmatia and the Republic of Dubrovnik as sites of the production, circulation, and censorship of Enlightenment knowledge.
The dissertation is co-supervised by Dr Teodora Shek Brnardić (Croatian Institute of History) and Professor Lahorka Plejić Poje (Department of Croatian Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb).
You can find the abstract and photographs below.
Abstract:
The dissertation investigates private Enlightenment libraries in Venetian Istria, Dalmatia, and the Republic of Dubrovnik between the final third of the 18th century and the end of the French administration (1770–1813). Departing from traditional scholarship that treats libraries as passive repositories, this study examines them as dynamic sites of knowledge production, circulation, and censorship. The analysis draws on concepts (knowledge, materiality, practices) derived from historical praxeology and Johan Östling’s model of knowledge circulation. Integrating these approaches enables the reconstruction of the material and social preconditions for the circulation of Enlightenment knowledge, as well as the intellectual and cultural practices through which ideas were adapted to local contexts. A comparative analysis of three case studies (Stefano Carli, Tomo Bassegli, Ivan Luka Garagnin Jr.) will highlight regional similarities and differences across the examined territories.
We find it appropriate […] to promote the establishment of a Trading Company, which, by uniting its strength, knowledge, and care, will strive […] to develop the various branches of a necessary and profitable commerce.
