A signed first edition of “El Filibusterismo” by Philippine national hero Jose Rizal became the most expensive book sold in the country after it was acquired at an auction for PHP21 million ($355,932).
The once-banned book was auctioned during the Asian Cultural Council Auction 2026 at Leon Gallery in Makati City on February 14.
It was signed by Rizal himself, dedicating it to his personal friend Dr. T.H. Pardo de Tavera.
On it, the national hero wrote: “A mi querido amigo el doctor T.H. Pardo de Tavera, Jose Rizal, Gante, 16/ IX 1891.”
Translated by the Leon Gallery, the inscription reads, “To my dear friend, the doctor T. H. Pardo de Tavera, Jose Rizal, Ghent, 16 September 1891.”
The rare copy was from the collection of Don Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, with his name stamped on the title page. A note on the inside front cover also states that it came from his library.
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Rizal’s struggles in printing ‘El Filibusterismo’
According to the Leon Gallery website, the copy was printed “when Jose Rizal was both emotionally and financially exhausted.”
Rizal was paying the printing shop in Ghent, Belgium, in instalments, doing everything he could to save money, such as residing at an inexpensive boarding house near the press and skipping meals.
His close friend, Jose Basa, loaned him money. However, after that had all been spent, Rizal reportedly became “so desperate that he threatened to abandon the project and burn the manuscript.”
Rizal’s struggles were evident in the fact that El Filibusterismo had fewer pages and copies compared to his first book, the “Noli Me Tangere”.
“Unique value”
The copies were around less than a thousand, and some were confiscated and burned by friars and the Spanish authorities at the time, Leon Gallery director Jaime De Leon told GMA News Online.
Explaining the edition’s “unique value,” the gallery said it came from Rizal’s signature and his dedication to Pardo de Tavera.
“Signed September 16, 1891, it predates the commonly known printing date and is literally the press’s first copy. Rizal held this very book, personally sending Pardo de Tavera a message with it,” it added.
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