Whereof, the meaning substantially is, that “the first printers (in the Philippines) were of the Order of St. Augustine, among them Father Juan de Villanueva, publisher of some small treatises—tratadillos; then others of the Order of St. Dominic, of whom Father Francisco de San Joseph printed works of larger bulk, and was the first of his brethren to write in araya (Tagal?).”
Here then, in these quotations from two Dominican monuments—Aduarte’s history and the MS. (quoted by Martínez-Vigil), the latter ending with events of the year 1606—you have all that antiquity tells of the introduction of the printing-press into the Philippines.
To the assertion (in the MS.), relative to the Augustinian press, may be appended an item or so in regard to the art-establishment of that order at Lubao, in Pampanga province in Luzon, which I have picked up from one of their chroniclers, Gaspar de San Agustín, a Tagal and Visaya linguist, who died, some say at Tondo, others at Manila, in 1724, after nearly fifty years’ mission-service in the islands. In his history (Madrid, 1698), are the following words in reference to Lubao convent: “Se han celebrado en este Convento algunos Capitulos intermedios y mucho tiempo huvo Estudios menores de Gramatica y Retorica; y teniamos tambien en él una muy buena Imprenta, traida del Japón, en que se imprimian muchos libros, assi en la lengua Española como Pampanga y Tagala.”[10]
In brief, that is, Father Gaspar says that “in Lubao convent, where the order maintained a school of grammar and rhetoric, there was a press (brought from Japan), whereon many books were printed in Spanish, Pampanga, and Tagal.” May we not, then, be justified in surmising that this Lubao press was the one referred to in the MS. adduced by Martínez-Vigil, that attributes to Augustinians the introduction of typography into the Philippines? And, moreover, since the said ancient MS. ends with the year 1606, that this Lubao press was at work at a still earlier date?
But, enough. With no originals at hand, we feel disinclined to pursue this topic further as to the priority of printing in the islands, nor do we care to press the question, whether, namely, the first book of Philippine manufacture was Bugarín’s dictionary of 1630, Blancas’ Arte of 1610, or the Lubao tratadillos of 1606.
In our own colonies (we may observe) printing was introduced, first at Cambridge in Massachusetts, in 1638; while in Pennsylvania the first book printed—an almanac—by William Bradford, of Philadelphia, is dated 1685, a full half century later, that is, than the introduction of this “art preservative of arts” into Malaysia.
[1] Zúñiga Estadismo, ii, 101.
[2] Provinces of the other friars in Malaysia (including the Philippines) are entitled as follows: Augustinians—Most Holy Name of Jesus; Franciscans—St. Gregory the Great; Hospitallers—St. Raphael Archangel; Recoletos—St. Nicholas of Tolentino.
[3] Zúñiga Estadismo, Appendice B, ii, *103, *104, and *115.