Brasileiro tradutor e/ou traidor: Frei José Mariano da Conceição Veloso.

Abstract

This article is concerned with a specific phenomenon of the history of translation into Portuguese, the boom of translation of scientific and didactic texts in the turn of the 18th century in Portugal, in which a considerable number of Brazilians were involved. We focus the work of Friar José Mariano da Conceição Veloso, who has lately been referred to as a key figure in the history of sciences and books publishing in Portugal and Brazil. Friar Veloso was translator, editor, and translation coordinator in charge of the work of translators concerned with pragmatic texts in Lisbon. Veloso’s involvement with the still incipient editorial industry in Portugal was linked to Portuguese Enlightenment, especially the dissemination of scientific knowledge that could be applied to the progress of the Portuguese kingdom. Clues of Friar Veloso’s close connection with the Portuguese official policies are found in the prefaces he wrote for his translations, and they are enough to include him withim a patronage system that defined the direction his editorial activities would take. Curiously, despite these ties to the authoritarian Portuguese monarchical regime, Friar Veloso’s work led to unexpected historical developments, such as the growth of the reading public and the improvement of printing techniques.