TOMAS PINPIN

The UST Publishing House is proud to announce the release of two books, “Tomas Pinpin and Tagalog Survival in Early Spanish Philippines” by Damon L. Woods, and a new edition of “Librong Pagaaralan nang manga Tagalog nang uicang Castila” by Tomas Pinpin (transcribed and edited with an Introduction by Damon L. Woods.

The work of many years of research, “Tomas Pinpin”, “Librong Pag-aaralan” which includes background material of what is known of Pinpin, is a rich source of social history. One of the key issues it tackles is the reality of a literate Tagalog population at the time, which made the production of such a work possible. Pinpin’s work marked the entrance of Tagalogs into the printing industry, replacing the Chinese converts who had been printers since 1593, when the first book to be published in the country, the “Doctrina Christiana” was released.

The remarkable “Librong Pag-aaralan,” printed one year before the publication of the King James Version of the Bible, by the Dominican Press in Abucay, Bataan, with the intention of helping the author Pinpin’s fellow Tagalogs learn to speak, read, and write in Spanish, the language of their colonial masters.

Most Filipinos have heard of Tomas Pinpin, but his book has been largely inaccessible to the general public. No longer.

Both books are now available at the UST Publishing House’s bookstore inside the UST campus, and at many National Bookstore branches.

Damon Woods has a PhD in Southeast Asian History from the University of California, Los Angeles, and has taught at UCLA, the University of California, Irwine, and California State University. The son of missionaries, he grew up in Baguio City.