Date & Time: Thursday 24 November, 2022
Venue: Seminar Room (No.213), 2nd Floor, Inamori Foundation Memorial Building

Title: Incunabula Investigation: Studying the Survival of Early Philippine Imprints
Speaker: Patricia May Bantug Jurilla

Abstract:
What are the early printed books of the Philippines?  Why and how were they produced?  Which of them have survived to this day?  Where are the copies of these extant books now, and how did they get there?  How is their survival significant?  And why should knowing about any of this matter?

This presentation will explore the answers to these questions by discussing the study of the survival of Philippine incunabula, books printed from 1593 to 1640.  It will pay special attention to the creation and survival of two early imprints, both produced in Manila in the seventeenth century: Relacion verdadera, y breve de la persecucion, y martyrios, que padecieron por la confession de nuestra sancta fee catholica en Japon (1625) and Vocabulario de Iapon (1630).

Patricia May B. Jurilla is a Professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature, University of the Philippines in Diliman, where she teaches literature and book history.  The first formally trained Filipino book historian, she has authored several books and articles on Philippine bibliography, printing, and publishing, including Story Book: Essays on the History of the Book in the Philippines, which won the 2014 National Book Award for History and Journalism. 

Visitor’s Voice:
Interview with Patricia May Bantug Jurilla: Writing Books about Books