SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The thesis is a study on the history of the book in the Philippines with a focus on literary publishing and Filipino literary bestsellers of the twentieth century. It begins with a survey on the publishing of books in the Philippines from 1593 when the first book was printed in the country to 2003 when the first nationwide study on reading attitudes and preferences was conducted. The survey pays special attention to literary forms and texts that have played a significant role in the development of Philippine culture and history. It is followed by an examination of literary publishing in the Philippines, in which the local bestselling literary forms of the twentieth century are identified. These types of literary texts are subsequently taken up in case studies that explore the publishing, manufacturing, distribution, reception, and survival of the bestselling books and their relation to the conditions and circumstances in Philippine culture, society, politics, and economics during their time. The case studies, which are centred on specific publishers who were particularly successful in producing the literary bestsellers, are on Tagalog metrical romances (in awit and corrido forms) published by Juan Martinez during the 1900s to the 1920s; on Tagalog novels published by Palimbagang Tagumpay (Victory Publishing) under the Aliwan (Entertainment) series from 1945 to 1947; on the comic books (komiks) series published by the group of companies owned by Ramon Roces from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s; and on Filipino romance novels published by Books for Pleasure and by Precious Pages Corporation from 1985 to 2000. This thesis seeks to introduce the History of the Book to Philippine scholarship, where the discipline is still a largely unexplored if not totally unheard of area of study.