Early Philippines legal printing - Rare 17th Century Libel printed in Manila

Early Philippines legal printing - Rare 17th Century Libel printed in Manila

Cerbantes Altamirano, Joseph:

“Iuridico Informe por la Justicia de el B. D. Rafael Ome, Capitan D. Manvel Sarmiento, Licenc D.Ioseph Ximenes, y M. D.Ioseph Cerbantes Altamitano….en el illustre Collegio de s. Thomas, de que sue alumno. Ano de M.DC.LXX.IX."

Printed in Manila at the University of Santo Tomas, 25th November 1679

Quarto (290 x 215mm approx)

34 pp, sewn/stitched as issued. Housed in later worn Morocco folio dropback box.

This is a rare and early Philippine legal imprint dating to 1679 — within a century of the birth of printing in Manila (1593).  The imprint is listed as number 80 in Retana’s systematic census of Philippines printing published in 1906 “Aparato Bibliográfico de la Historia General de Filipinas”. The work is one of the earliest surviving legal works printed in the Philippines, and I estimate only 6 other Philippines printed legal works predating this from Retana’s census.

The title Iuridico Informe indicates a formal legal opinion which would be submitted to the colonial authorities. The text concerns a judicial inquiry (“causa de oficio”) involving Captain Manuel Sarmiento and Rafael Ome, and was written by Joseph Cerbantes Altamirano, who was likely a colonial jurist or cleric attached to the Real Audiencia of Manila. The legal text demonstrates a strong humanist education with classical influences, and includes references to Seneca and Cassiodorus in the opening lines.

The University of Santo Tomas was founded in Manilla in 1611 by Miguel de Benavides, the third Archbishop of Manila. Pope Innocent X granted it University status in 1645, making it the oldest existing chartered University in Asia. Printing at the University started in the mid 17th Century, under the supervision of Dominican friars, making it one of the oldest Western presses in the Pacific.

Rarity: Only one other copy on Worldcat (University of Torino). All early Philippine imprints are rare. Most 17th-century Manila imprints were religious or linguistic in nature, not legal.

Reference: Retana 80 — “Cervantes Altamirano (José). Juridico informe. [Manila,] 1679. P.-G 442” — Aparato Bibliográfico de la Historia General de Filipinas, no. 80.

£7500