{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":60813,"auction_id":203,"set_id":236,"lot_number":"102","artist":"Fr. Gaspar de San Agustín, OSA","title":"Conquistas de las Islas Philipinas: la temporal, por las armas del Señor Don Phelipe Segundo el Prudente; y la espiritual, por los religiosos del Orden de Nuestro Padre San Agustín.","starting_price":1000000,"signed_dated":"Madrid: Imprenta de Manuel Ruiz de Murga, 1698.","medium":null,"size":"size: 11 1/4” x 8 1/4” (29 cm x 21 cm) <br>\ndepth: 2” (5 cm)","property":"PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED LADY","coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"This is a major seventeenth-century chronicle of the Spanish colonization of the Philippine archipelago. This first edition was printed as a substantial folio volume in cotton rag paper and preserves its original vellum (calf leather) cover, which is extremely prized among collectors of Filipiniana and early modern missionary histories. <br><br>  Its title page is preceded by a lavish frontispiece engraving by Nicolò Billy. It serves as a powerful visual allegory of the Spanish imperial project, vividly illustrating the dual nature of colonial subjugation. <br><br>  At the base of the composition lies a map of the Philippine archipelago, positioned at the feet of the central figures to symbolize the islands’ divinely ordained submission to Spanish sovereignty. Flanking the map are the twin pillars of colonial authority: King Felipe II on the right, embodying the “temporal conquest” through military might, and Saint Augustine on the left, representing the “spiritual conquest” through evangelical mission. The monarch, clad in armor, gestures toward the territory, asserting state control achieved by force of arms. Behind him stands the Adelantado Miguel López de Legazpi, leading the soldiers. Conversely, Saint Augustine offers his flaming heart, from which divine light streams downward—complemented by the Christogram (IHS)—thus bringing European enlightenment to the region. <br><br>  In the background, historical figures such as the cosmographer Andrés de Urdaneta and the missionary Martín de Rada reinforce the foundational reality of the 1565 Legazpi expedition. Ultimately, the engraving functions as visual ideology, framing the pacification of the Philippines not as mere geopolitical ambition, but as a providential destiny uniting the sword and the cross. <br><br> Born in Madrid in 1651, Fr. Gaspar de San Agustín entered the Augustinian Order and embarked for the Philippines in 1668. A polyglot scholar proficient in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and eventually, Tagalog and Bisaya, he held numerous important ecclesiastical positions, including prior of several convents (Lipa, Parañaque, Pasig, Malate, and Tondo), definitor, and provincial visitator. Besides his historical magnum opus, he authored a Compendio de la lengua tagala (1703), poetry, sermons, and the controversial letter “Quadraginta” critiquing the character of the native Filipinos. He died in Manila in 1724. <br><br> Structured as a dual narrative of “conquistas,” the work details the temporal conquest by Spanish arms under Philip II, beginning with Miguel López de Legazpi’s 1565 expedition, and the spiritual conquest led by the Augustinian friars who accompanied and followed the conquistadors. It chronicles the foundation and progress of the Augustinian Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, missionary labors, interactions with indigenous peoples, ecclesiastical administration, and key events up to about 1615. <br><br> Drawing upon archival documents, earlier chroniclers, and firsthand knowledge from decades in the islands, San Agustín provides one of the richest accounts of early colonial society, governance, evangelization, indigenous customs, burial practices, and even the earliest written record of the Filipino creation myth—all from the Augustinian perspective. Although the original manuscript extended further into the seventeenth century, only the first part up to 1615 reached print in 1698. Fr. Gaspar de San Agustín’s narratives of the Japanese martyrdoms were abruptly cut off because of the earlier publication on the same topic, Christiandad del Japón, by his confrere, Fr. Sicardo. The rest of his manuscript was published in 1892 and was mistakenly attributed to Fr. Casimiro Díaz. <br><br>  The 1698 first edition’s bibliophilic rarity stems from its status as one of the most valuable early histories of the Philippines. It was lauded by bibliographer Wenceslao E. Retana for containing more profane (secular) information than purely religious content, qualifying it as “majestic and indispensable work.” In his bibliography, Trinidad Pardo de Tavera called it “the most interesting chronicle that exists on the Philippines.” Printed with an elegant engraved allegorical frontispiece (by Nicolò Billy), complete copies in good condition are exceptionally scarce—often described as “unicorns” in Filipiniana—owing to the hazards of transpacific travel, colonial conflicts, and the passage of time. <br><br>  This original 1698 imprint remains a cornerstone of serious collections of Augustiniana, Southeast Asian imprints, and early Spanish Pacific historiography precisely because it preserves irreplaceable primary data on the dual processes of conquest while embodying the Order’s missionary ethos. <br><br> Complete copies in exceptional condition rarely surface even at major international auction houses. Auction records in New York have yielded no offerings of this title in recent decades, further underscoring its exceptional scarcity even among premier venues for rare books. Latin American auction houses have also offered surviving (often imperfect) copies as high-value lots, often noting condition challenges due to the book’s age and travel history. Its scarcity owes to wartime losses during trans-Pacific voyages, colonial conflicts, fires, and the attrition of three centuries. <br><br>In sum, San Agustín’s Conquistas de las Islas Philipinas is not merely an Augustinian chronicle but a foundational text that shaped subsequent Philippine historiography. Its scholarly depth, combined with extreme physical scarcity and physical elegance, ensures its enduring status among the rarest and most coveted antiquarian volumes on the Spanish Pacific world.Veronicans — and from there it was a short skip and jump to the fast and furious world of poets, journalists and most, importantly, artists.","lot_group":"BOOKS","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":null,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":null,"userBid":null,"isPaid":0,"userId":34,"lot_status":"UNSOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":0,"hammer_price":null,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":66828,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/203/236/lot/102.jpg","isFeatured":1},{"id":67131,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/203/236/lot/102b.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":67130,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/203/236/lot/102a.jpg","isFeatured":0}]},"increment":[900000,1000000,1100000,1200000,1300000,1400000,1500000,1600000,1700000,1800000,1900000,2000000,2200000,2400000,2600000,2800000,3000000,3200000,3400000,3600000,3800000,4000000,4200000,4400000,4600000,4800000,5000000,5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":101,"next":103,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}