the information therein contained regarding the Philippines was
acknowledgedly obtained from the unfinished manuscript which Aduarte
had with him in Spain. The pertinent passages add nothing to Aduarte's
information, and even the wording is reminiscent of his.

The first suggestion that early Philippine books may have been printed
from wood-blocks occurred in Quétif and Echard's bibliography of
Dominican writers printed at Paris in 1719. There, after listing
eight works by Blancas de San José, they add:


"He published all these in the Philippines with the help
of a Chinese Christian using Chinese blocks, for in his day
European typographers had not yet arrived in those islands,
nor did they have types for their language." [25]


This was an amazing suggestion, for as far as we know the
bibliographers who made it had not actually seen the books; nor is it
entirely true. The first two works listed are two books we know were
printed typographically in 1610. The sixth is _De los mysterios del
Rosario de nuestra Señora Tagalice_, the book referred to by Fernández
as having been printed in 1602, and generally accepted as being from
movable type, although no copy has been discovered to prove it. And
yet, it is not at all impossible that some time before 1602 Blancas de
San José had some of his writings printed from blocks. In any event,
the idea, later developed by Medina and Retana, that xylography was
used before a real printing-press was established, may have come from
this not wholly accurate note.