TRACING THE JOURNEY OF SPANISH PICTUREBOOKS UP TO THE LATE 20TH CENTURY: ORIGINS, EVOLUTION, AND CONNECTIONS WITH OTHER VISUAL NARRATIVES

Resumen

This study examines the emergence and evolution of picturebooks in Spain, analysing illustrated literary products—either specifically targeted at childhood audiences or equally suitable for them—whose inclusion is justified by their relevance to the historical comprehension of the genre. The investigation begins with the protohistory of Spanish children’s literature, progressing from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries, from the primitive Isopetes to periodical publications that gradually incorporated visual elements. The research highlights the fundamental contribution of nineteenthcentury publishers such as Bastinos, Calleja and Biblioteca Verdaguer, which significantly advanced the integration of images with enhanced narrative and visual potency, supported by artists like Bartolozzi and Apel·les Mestres. The analysis culminates with twentieth-century developments, wherein diverse graphic forms flourished despite the regressive impact of the Civil War and dictatorship on editorial innovation. The cultural aperture of the 1960s facilitated the development and consolidation of the contemporary picturebook as an integrated artistic-literary product, revealing the complex interplay of aesthetic, social and ideological factors in its evolutionary trajectory.