With a total of 135, it is positioned as the year in which the most pieces on bullfighting have been published in the last 12 years.
The year 2023 has positioned itself as the year in which the most bullfighting books have been published in the last 12 years. Thus, the books published in 2023 on bullfighting have totaled 135, according to data from bullfighting bibliophile José María Sotomayor.
José María Sotomayor collects in his library all the bullfighting monographs that see the light and for more than 30 years he has published the files of the books published, on an annual basis, in the Gazette of the Union of Bibliophiles Taurins of France. José María mentions the difficulty of making these lists of publications, “since currently 25% of the books that come out are not published by publishers.”
In 1988, a total of 60 bullfighting books were published. However, in the last 12 years, the year in which the fewest books have been published has been 87. But even in the two worst years, those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, 69 and 72 books were published, respectively. Thus, the annual average of bullfighting books published in the last 12 years has been 92 pieces.
Last year, the Fundación Toro de Lidia launched a project in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture that consists of recovering important written works, all of them inspired by bullfighting. A total of 12 books were published.
José María Sotomayor, a member of the Union of Bullfighting Bibliophiles of Spain and Mexico, draws a clear conclusion: “Something that is not of interest is not published. If books on a specific topic were to suddenly begin to be written, it would be a sign that interest in it is emerging.”
In a few months we will know the figures for this year, 2024, although as Sotomayor assures, “it will not reach the figures for 2023, but based on the data I have up to September, it will not fall to those of previous years either.”
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