Doctrina Christiana / The first book printed in the Philippines, Manila, 1593.
The Doctrina Christiana is the first book ever printed in the Philippines, produced in Manila in 1593 as a missionary primer of Catholic doctrine. Compiled by Spanish Dominican friars rather than a single named author, it presents the basics of the faith—prayers like the Pater Noster and Ave Maria, the Ten Commandments, the sacraments, and a catechism—rendered side by side in Spanish, romanized Tagalog, and the ancient Baybayin script. This surviving copy, now held in the Library of Congress, is accompanied by Edwin Wolf 2nd's introductory essay, which traces the centuries-long, detective-story hunt to authenticate it.
Beyond devotion, the book is a landmark of cultural and linguistic encounter, capturing the moment Spanish colonialism, Catholic evangelization, and indigenous Filipino writing collided on a single page. It matters as both a religious artifact and a printing milestone, preserving Baybayin and early Tagalog at the dawn of Philippine literacy, and standing as a rare, almost miraculously surviving cradle-book of a nation's printed history.
How it begins
Notice : For proper display, this file requires a Unicode-aware old Tagalog (Baybayin) font to display correctly. Such fonts can be located on the internet by searching for download Baybayin font . Doctrina Christiana The First Book Printed in the Philippines. Manila, 1593. A Facsimile of the Copy in the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection. Library of Congress, Washington. With an Introductory Essay By Edwin Wolf 2nd Acknowledgements I want here to express my thanks and appreciation to Mr. Lessing J. Rosenwald, through whose kindness this unique Doctrina was presented to the Library of Congress and with whom the idea of this publication originated. His interest and enthusiasm made 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 turned for advice, Dr. Lawrence C. Wroth of the John Carter Brown Library and Dr. Leslie W. Dunlap of the Library of Congress who very kindly read over my manuscript and gave me the benefit of their suggestions and criticisms, Mr. David C. Mearns and Miss Elsie Rackstraw of the Library of Congress and Mrs.
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