Remembering the publisher Esther A. Vibal (1923–2020)

THE history of the press and the production of books during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines have been two of my scholarly passions. I believe that the bibliography of books printed in the archipelago since 1593 is not only especially revealing of the goals of the colonial masters — especially the friars, who owned all the printing presses until the dawn of the nineteenth century — but also about the tastes and preferences of readers.

My admiration of early printers and engravers — most of whom were Filipinos — does not preclude me from recognizing the life and labor of a woman, who contributed extensively to the world of books and education during the last decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st: Esther A. Vibal.