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Capivara Editora, a quality editorial label dedicated exclusively to Brazillian subjects, was founded in December 2001 with the purpose of creating illustrated books connected to Brazillian art, with a special emphasis on the 19th century.
The choice of an indigenous Brazillian animal for the publisher´s name is very representative of this commitment, reiterated in our logo, the small and charming capybara, portrayed in Frans Post´s most famous painting, exhibited in the Musée du Louvre.
Capivara Editora´s first titles were released early in 2002, bundled in the collection "Visions of Brazil" - a set of four books about the works of great photographers of the 19th century: Militão, Stahl, Gutierrez and Klumb. The publisher drew a lot of attention to itself in that year, with the further release of "Literary Alphabet", "Rugendas and Brazil" and "Brazil Built Heritage", our first best-seller, a photographic essay of the 100 most significant buildings in Brazil.
In 2003 were released the books "Castro Maya - Collector of Debret", that presents the collection of the Castro Maya Museums which amounts to 90% of all the known works by this painter; "O Bonde e a Linha" an unique biography of Brazil´s greatest caricaturist, J. Carlos, by one of today´s greatest caricaturists, Cassio Loredano; and "Aleijadinho and his Workshop", a complete catalog of the works of the greatest brazillian baroque artist, highly anticipated in the market - and that caused great excitement among specialists and collectors.
Three books were released in 2004: "The nineteenth century in Latin-American historical documents" offers a panorama of Latin America through documents of the main historical characters of the countries therein; "A Parisian in Brazil", by Adèle Toussaint-Samson, a brief report of a french woman who spent twelve years in Brazil mid-19th century but had her writings ignored for most of the twentieth century; and a new edition, reviewed and expanded, of "Iconografia Paulistana", a book that contains all the pictures of 19th century São Paulo.
In 2005, Capivara published two photography books, one with contemporary photographic essays, "Beaches of Rio", and the other about 19th century brazillian photographers, "Photographers of the Empire", the most extensive and comprehensive book about the pioneers of photography in the country.
The entire catalog with all the works of painter Frans Post, "Frans Post - 1612-1680 - Complete works" was released in 2006, with remarkable prominence and rapidly running out of stock, all as a consequence of the commitment and research of its authors, Bia and Pedro Corrêa do Lago. (A new edition is already in press, scheduled for 2009).
In 2007, Capivara Editora invested in another painter very dedicated to Brazil, Debret, the greatest chronicler of our customs. The book "Debret and Brazil", by Julio Bandera and Pedro Corrêa do Lago, soon became a best-seller - and is already in its second edition.
In 2008 were published "Silva Porto - Bookseller in the court of Dom João", by Cybelle de Ipanema and Marcello de Ipanema; the expected second edition of "Aleijadinho and his Workshop"; "Taunay and Brazil", by Pedro Corrêa do Lago, a catalog of all the works produced in the country by this great artist of the French Mission; "From Factory to Garden - historical memoirs of the Botanical Gardens", by Claudia Gaspar and Carlos Eduardo Barata; the revolutionary "Princess Isabel Collection - photography from the 19th century", by Pedro and Bia Corrêa do Lago, reveals more than a thousand previously unpublished images in the decades prior to the Proclamation of the Republic; and "Claudio Bernardes & Paulo Jacobsen - The path of a partnership in architecture", about the work built by these two great brazillian architects.
As always, through research and the constant quest for uncharted waters, the whole of Capivara Editora publications runs along the history of Brazil, then revealed at once through the building of the national architecture since the 16th century to this very day, and the legacy of travellers and pioneers in the country - painters, chroniclers and photographers (many of whom would still be completely unknown or very little known) - dedicating itself with the same intensity to the baroque art of the most symbolic brazillian artist as well as to the quest for contemporary angles, able to recreate the most famous vistas of our beaches.
Pedro Corrêa do Lago is a bibliophile and author of many books about hisory, art and iconography. He was president of the Fundação Biblioteca Nacional from March 2003 to October 2005.
Bia Corrêa do Lago is author of many texts about Frans Post and 19th century photography, presents the weekly show "Umas Palavras" in TV channel Futura, where she interviews those prominent in national culture who use the written word as a privileged means of expression.