The Printing of El Filibusterismo

The publisher F. Meyer-Van Loo Press, no. 66 Viaanderen Street who was willing to print his book on
instalment basis. He pawned his jewels in order to pay the down payment and early partial expenses
during the printing of the novel. Rizal became desperate because his funds were running low. He
received some money from Basa and 200 from Rodriguez Arias for the copies of Morga’s Sucesos sold in
Manila but these funds were also used up.

July 1891 Rizal wrote a letter to Basa saying that if no money comes he will have to stop its publication.
On August 6 the printing had to be suspended, as Rizal feared, because he could no longer give the
necessary funds to the printer.

Valentin Ventura, Savior of the El Fili; and El Filibusterismo comes off the Press

Valentin Ventura heard Rizal’s predicament he immediately sent the amount of money needed to finish
the publication of the novel. September 18, 1891 the El Fili came off to Press. Rizal immediately sent 2
copies to Hongkong one for Basa and the other to 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 colony of Barcelona published a tribute in La Publicidad, a Barcelona newspaper
eulogizing the novel’s original style which “is comparable only to the sublime Alexander Dumas” “a
model and precious jewel in the now decadent literature of Spain.

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 all the books were lost. The book immediately
became rare and few available Ghent copies were sold at very high prices, reaching as high as 400
pesetas per copy.