November 25, 2016 , 04:37pm

U of T library gives Reporter staff, guests special annual tour

Librarian David Fernandez receives latest issue of The Philippine Reporter from Publisher Hermie Garcia, joined by Mila Garcia, Norman Garcia, Leslie Gesell and students Daniel and Isabelle Avila, Domenic and Serena de Vera

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library tour for Reporter staff and students

By Mila Astorga-Garcia

TORONTO – A deck of 16 rectangular art cards published several decades ago that could be combined three million picturesque ways; an original copy of the oldest biblical history of humankind printed on velum; a heavy little volume with a metal inside cover page etched with the plate used to print the book’s illustrations; the earliest book on religion and language printed in the Philippines.

These were some of the rare treasures that fascinated guests — aged 6 to 69 — during the second special tour hosted by the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library for The Philippine Reporter staff and guests last Friday, November 18, 2016.
The event coincided with the official turnover of another year’s printed copies to add to The Philippine Reporter’s 27-year collection archived at the prestigious Library, the largest repository of rare books and manuscripts in Canada.
David Fernandez, Rare Book Librarian, received the copies from Hermie Garcia, publisher and editor, in the presence of staff and guests.

The group with the famous Nuremberg Chronicle in
front.

At the start of the tour, Fernandez oriented the participants about the nature and extent of the library’s special collection, covering the entire length and breadth of the magnificent cathedral-like structure of the Library, housed at Robarts Library, as part of the University of Toronto Libraries.

Fernandez pointed to some of the most notable collections of interest to the varied group – from Grade school and high school students, to journalists, administrative staff and a civil servant — the rows of original works in French by American writer, journalist and philosoper Henry David Thoreau, and Francophone Genevan philosopher, writer and composer, Jean-Jacques Rousseau; William Shakespeare’s original writings; to hundreds of versions of Alice in Wonderland in various languages and cultures.

In the library’s presentation room one floor below, two long tables displayed selected rare books, and the earliest copies of The Philippine Reporter. Going through the special selections — which included the original Liber chronicarum known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, an illustrated biblical world history published in 1493; a facsimile of the first book printed in the Philippines; two beautiful fine bindings, one by Robert Wu and another by Georges Cretté; and two eighteenth century grammars of Tagalog, including one printed in Binondo . Fernandez narrated stories about each selected book which the touring adults and children found fascinating and enlightening. He encouraged participants to feel the texture of the pages of the ancient books published not on paper but on velum or animal skin, and to look closely at each letter printed with a metal block.

Library tourists listen to Fernandez’s story about the first book printed in the Philippines, one of the rare archived items. (4 PHOTOS: HG)

Among the archived Philippine Reporter copies Fernandez displayed for the tour was the very first issue published on March 10, 1989. The collection of the newspaper’s earliest issues attracted two visiting guests from Paraguay and Honduras, leading to a brief conversation of the present Philippine situation, as the stories in the old issues still resonated with the pressing social concerns in the Philippines today.

To the students, Fernandez explained that the significant value of the archived collection of The Philippine Reporter, is that their grandchildren, and their grandchildren’s grandchildren, can still have manual access decades and centuries from now, to the original printed newspaper reporting on the life and times of Filipinos in Canada and the Philippines, much the same as the tour participants have manual access to the centuries-old books presented during the tour.

If anything at all, the visit showed the appreciative “tourists” that The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library is not just a destination for serious researchers and scholars but also a highly stimulating place for discovery and enjoyable learning for people of all ages and interests.