Editorial originality and inventiveness in a time of dictatorship: the “Cabra-Cega” series (1968–1973) by Edições Afrodite

Abstract During Portugal’s repressive political regime (1926–1974), writing and publishing books were activities that were subjected to strong censorship, under a range of conditions and prohibitions, and “any edition could be seized once it had been published” as reported by Rodrigues (Breve História da Censura Literária em Portugal, Instituto de Cultura e Língua Portuguesa Ministério da Educação e Ciência, Lisboa, 1980: p. 73). Fernando Ribeiro de Mello (1941–1992) became known as a “(...) ‘damned’ mediator and publisher of forbidden texts” as reported by Marques (Editor Contra: Fernando Ribeiro de Mello e a Afrodite, Montag, 2015: 49). Exhibiting off an exuberant personality, “(...) he was able to create and develop a persona and a sui generis reputation, characterized by a taste for provocation and making a scene” as reported by Marques (Editor Contra: Fernando Ribeiro de Mello e a Afrodite, Montag, 2015: p. 30) which earned him eight banned titles (five of which were banned in the very first year of his publishing house), in addition to another subject to substantial limitations. In 1965, Afrodite, Edições Fernando Ribeiro de Mello, with its deliberately libidinous name, made its debut with the title Kama Sutra: Manual do Erotismo Hindú [Kama Sutra: Handbook of Huindu Eroticism]. Afrodite’s most fertile period was between 1968 and 1974. It was precisely in December 1968 that the “Cabra-Cega” series began. It was coordinated by Maria Alberta Menéres (1930–2019) and comprised a total of eleven volumes, which will be analysed in this study. We will highlight the main verbal-iconic singularities of a remarkable textual corpus , carefully illustrated, sometimes by emerging artists, and in synergetic combination with literary texts written by important writers for children, such as Mário Castrim (1920–2002), Ricardo Alberty (1919–1992), Alice Gomes (1910–1983), and António Torrado (1939–2021), among others.