El Filibusterismo Comes Off the Press

In his morbid moments of despair, Rizal almost burned the manuscript of El Filibusterismo.
When everything seemed lost, help came from an unexpected source. Valentin Ventura in
Paris learned of Rizals predicament and immediately sent him the amount needed to finish
the publication of the novel.
September 18, 1891 El Fili came off to press
Rizal immediately sent 2 copies to Hong Kong one for Basa and the other for Sixto Lopez.
He gratefully gave the original manuscript of El Fili and a printed copy with his autograph to
Valentin Ventura.
Filipino patriots praised the novel. The members of the Filipino colony of Barcelona
published a tribute in La Publicidad,a Barcelona newspaper, eulogizing the novels original
style.
The liberal Madrid newspaper, El Nuevo Regimen, serialized the novel in its issues of October
1891.
All copies of the first edition (Ghent edition) of El Fili were placed in wooden boxes and
shipped to Hong Kong, but almost all the boxes were confiscated and the books were lost.
The book immediately became rare and the few available Ghent copies were sold at very
high prices, reaching as high as 400 pesetas per copy.
Rizal, in all his studies, travels, and labors in foreign lands, had not forgotten the martyrdom
of Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora, which Paciano related to him when he was a mere
lad in Calamba. He dedicated El Fili to them.

Corrections in Rizals historical inaccuracies:

First of all, the martyrdom of Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora occurred on February 17,
1872 not on the 28th.
Second, Father Mariano Gomez was 73 years old not 85. Father Jose Burgos was 35
years old not 30. And Father Jacinto Zamora was 37 years old not 35.

The Manuscript and the Book

- The original manuscript of El Fili in Rizals own handwriting is now preserved in the
Filipiniana Division of the Bureau of Public Libraries, Manila.
- Acquired from Valentin Ventura for P10,000.
- Consisting of 279 pages of long sheets of paper.

2 features that didnt appear in the printed book:

Foreword
Warning

These two were not put into print, evidently, to save printing cost.
- FOREWORD appears just before the dedicatory page in the manuscript. It is for the Filipino
People and the Government.
- WARNING found on the other side of the dedication.