The First Printing Press in the Philippines
Loading ...The first printing press in the Philippines was set up by the Dominican friars in Manila as early as 1593. It printed books by the old xylographic method–that is, by means of engraved wood blocks instead of individual movable types as used later. Juan de Vera, a mestizo, was the first known printer in the Philippines. He printed the famous Doctrina Christiana in Tagalog in 1593.
Another Dominican, Fr. Blancas de San Jose, introduced printing by movable types or typography in the country in 1602. Learning Tagalog, he moved to Bataan and had his Artes y Reglas de la Lengua Tagala (Arts and Rules of the Tagalog Language) printed there in 1610. The printer was Tomas Pinpin, who was to become known as the Prince of the Filipino Printers. Under the guidance of Blancas de San Jose, Pinpin also wrote a book, Librong Pagaaralan ng mga Tagalog ng Uicang Castilla, and printed it himself in 1610.
