I want here to express my thanks and appreciation to Mr. Lessing J. Rosenwald, through whose
kindness this unique Doctrinawas presented to the Library of Congress and with whom the idea
of this publication originated. His interest and enthusiasmmade possible my work, and his
friendly advice and encouragement have been both valuable and heart-warming.
I also wish to thank others who have given me great assistance. They are Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach
to whom I continually turnedfor advice, Dr. Lawrence C. Wroth of the John Carter Brown
Library and Dr. Leslie W. Dunlap of the Library of Congress whovery kindly read over my
manuscript and gave me the benefit of their suggestions and criticisms, Mr. David C. Mearns
and MissElsie Rackstraw of the Library of Congress and Mrs. Ruth Lapham Butler of the Ayer
Collection of the Newberry Library whoso freely and generously made available to me the great
collections of works on the Philippines in their libraries, Dr. JohnH. Powell of the Free Library
of Philadelphia who helped me find reference books of the utmost importance, and the many
librarianswho courteously answered written queries about early Philippine material. EDWIN
WOLF 2ND.
The first book printed in the Philippines has been the object of a hunt which has extended from
Manila to Berlin, and fromItaly to Chile, for four hundred and fifty years. The patient research of
scholars, the scraps of evidence found in booksand archives, the amazingly accurate hypotheses
of bibliographers who have sifted the material so painstakingly gathered together,combine to
make its history a bookish detective story par excellence.
It is easy when a prisoner has been arrested and brought to the dock to give details of his
complexion, height, characteristicsand identifying marks, to fingerprint him and to photograph
him, but how inadequate was the description before his capture,how frequently did false scents
draw the pursuer off the right track! It is with this in mind that we examine the subjectof this
investigation, remembering that it has not been done before in detail. And, to complete the case,
the book has beenphotographed in its entirety and its facsimile herewith published.
In studying the Doctrina Christiana of 1593 there are four general problems which we shall
discuss. First, we shall give aphysical description of the book. Secondly, we shall trace
chronologically the bibliographical history of the Doctrina, thatis, we shall record the available
evidence which shows that it was the first book printed in the Philippines, and weigh
thetestimonies which state or imply to the contrary. Thirdly, we shall try to establish the
authorship of the text, and lastly,we shall discuss the actual printing.
It hardly needs be told why so few of the incunabula of the Philippines have survived. The paper
on which they were printedwas one of [2]the most destructible papers ever used in book
production. The native worms and insects thrived on it, and the heat and dampnesstook their
