First book of the Spanish Philippines

The first known printed book in Spanish Philippines was a Chinese language catechism using the Chinese method of printing, produced by the non-Christian Chinese printer Keng Yong in Manila under commission from the Spanish branch of the Order of Preachers. The Spanish historian Carlos Sanz believes that this catechism, Doctrina Christiana en letra y lengua China, compuesta por los madres ministros de los Sangleyes, de la Orden de Sancto Domingo. Con licencia, por Keng Young, China, en el Parian de Manila ("Christian Doctrine in the Chinese Letter and Tongue, Constituted for the Mother Ministries of the Sangleys, by the Order of Saint Dominic. With Licence, by Keng Yong, Chinese, in the Parian of Manila") was printed between 1590 and 1592.

The Chinese method of preparing block prints "was used in Manila by the early printers." "The wooden block" was "probably made of batikulíng or a similar wood." "The Chinese printer usually held in his right hand two brushes at the opposite extremities of the same handle; with one he inked the face of the characters and, the paper being then laid on the block, he ran the dry brush over it so as to take the impression. This was done with such speed that one man could finish a couple of thousand copies in a day."

The implication is that Keng Yong was an established printer in the Chinese quarter, and that the Chinese had been printing in Manila for some time using the traditional Chinese wooden block method, perhaps since before the establishment of the Spanish East Indies. Since the first known book printed under Spanish ecclesiastical authority was Keng Yong's printing probably between 1590 and 1592, the suggestion that the Spanish introduced printing to the Philippines has no basis in historical fact.

In territories under the control of the Spanish Crown, books could not be printed except by royal licence. In 1556 a royal cedula prohibited the printing or sale of books concerning the Indies without a special licence. In 1584 King Philip II of Spain gave instructions to the Real Audiencia in Manila, "when any grammar or dictionary of the language of the Indies be made it shall not be published or printed or used unless it has first been examined by the Bishop and seen by the Real Audiencia."

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