This text studies some Brazilian libraries of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. It tries to see them trhough their own documents, particularly codes and rules of conduct and behaviour - as a way to assess different cultural patterns. In order to do so, it will use the tools of cultural history, particularly those related to the history of the printed word and history of reading. Some of these libraries had sets of rules which, to the modern eye, would seem strange. A number of prohibitions hel to define representative universes around the book and the library, while use, behaviour and dress codes tell us about how civilization and moral were represented by that part of Brazilian society responsible for creating and keeping these institutions. This anaysis can help historians to better understand reading practices in the past.
Brazilian libraries; History of Reading; Cultural History