Vibal Foundation Launches New Titles in 2021

Vibal Foundation, Inc. (VFI) continues its mandate to publish books for the mind and the eye in 2021. As the philanthropic arm of Vibal Group Inc., VFI specializes in publishing art books, academic titles, references, and classic titles for its wide array of readers.

This year, VFI kicked off its slate with the launch of The Art of Window, Display and Design under the Fifty Shades of Philippine Art imprint. The book is richly complemented with over 500 beautiful images of window displays, objets d’art, travel sights, and artistic landmarks from around the world, The Art of Window, Display, and Design showcases the creative display of merchandise that can also quickly segue into its own art form transcending the banality of everyday objects to achieve an artistic visual narrative that is more transcendent and durable for all time.

Authors Chito Vijandre and Ricky Toledo are well-respected in the industry for their accomplishments. Vijandre launched his career as a fashion designer while Toledo debuted as a production manager at an Italian publishing and design firm. They would commence a lifetime of cultivating their mutual love for the visual and performing arts while scouring the globe to educate themselves on high and low art as well as collect fine antiques. An accumulation of their most treasured objects led them to open Juno, a bespoke boutique. The artistry and wit of their boutiques’ windows showcased objects of desire in set tableaux that wove fascinating tales with wondrous cultures, capturing imaginations and setting a new standard in the visual merchandising landscape. These are fittingly reflected in their book, The Art of Window, Display, and Design.

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Philippine-Spanish interactions, VFI released the second edition of Old Manila edited by Ma. Eloisa P. de Castro. First published in 1971, this evocative and superbly researched collection of essays charts the changing nature of Manila and its inhabitants. National Artist Carlos L. Quirino examines Manila from the early eleventh century through the end of Spanish rule, rendering the past in witty and imaginative ways. This book addresses such varied themes as religion, theater, war, food, pestilence, immigration, crime and punishment, coinage, and art. This new edition contains the original text with enriched visuals—maps, postcards, engravings, sketches, and photographs—making it a comprehensive pictorial record of Manila and its denizens through the centuries.

 

Its keen focus on social and genealogical history is brought out by Augusto M.R. González III, who charts the fascinating and intertwined stories of distinguished Spanish, mestizo, indio, and Chinese Manileño families.

The latest title in the “More than We Admit” series, More Tomboy, More Bakla than We Admit: Insights into Sexual and Gender Diversity in Philippine Culture, History, and Politics was launched to mark Pride Month. The book was edited by Dr. Mark Blasius and Dr. Richard Chu, the featured 15 essays were written by Filipino scholars studying sexual and gender identities, such as J. Neil C. Garcia, Raquel A. G. Reyes, and Rolando B. Tolentino. The book editors made sure that the anthology contained an essay to represent each letter of the LGBTQIA+ community. Dr. Blasius is a Professor Emeritus at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York while Dr. Chu is an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

At least two titles were launched in celebration of Jose Rizal’s birth anniversary: a critical edition of El Filibusterismo and E. San Juan’s Sisa’s Vengeance.

Jose Rizal’s El Filibusterismo serves as the thrilling denouement to his first social novel, Noli me tangere. In the first narrative, the author exposed the ills of a decaying Filipino society enfeebled by colonialism, while in this sequel Rizal tantalizingly emplots two divergent paths of the social disease’s inevitable and natural progression—either a slow, debilitating cancerous spread or the body’s sudden collapse into a violent paroxysm of anarchy and terrorism. The newly launched book is a critical edition by Isaac Donoso and it has a complete and unexpurgated English translation by Charles E. Derbyshire.

The sixth reedition of Sisa’s Vengeance by respected author Prof. E. San Juan Jr. addresses the question, “who is the real and true Rizal?” The book invites readers to look past the popular image of Rizal in order to understand his ideas as portrayed in his work, and how these ideas and beliefs were shaped by the events and circumstances of his life. The book is a re-evaluation of the significance of Rizal's discourse on freedom, human rights, and national liberation centering on the liberation of women and its ramifications in the total emancipation of a nation.

Most recently, VFI launched the second edition of the popular Boxer Codex: A Modern Spanish Transcription and English Translation of 16th-Century Exploration Accounts of East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific, transcribed and edited by Isaac Donoso and translated and annotated by National Artist for Literature Carlos Quirino, together with Ma. Luisa Garcia and Mauro Garcia. The book is a sixteenth-century codex that was eventually named after its last owner, the British scholar Charles R. Boxer. The sumptuously bound and illustrated manuscript contained a collection of eyewitness accounts of various cultures and places in East and Southeast Asia, including the Philippines. These accounts—rich with anthropological detail about precolonial customs and beliefs and lavishly illustrated with depictions of native peoples in their traditional costumes—were compiled into a book with the purpose of convincing the king of Spain to launch further expeditions in the region.

Boxer Codex made it to the top of Amazon’s list of “Hot New Releases” under the historical study reference category on August 2. Aside from being the number one new release in Historical Study Reference, Boxer Codex has also reached number 19 in the Southeast Asia History top list as well as number 38 under the History Encyclopedias category.

VFI books can be viewed and ordered at www.shop.vibalgroup.com or you may also check Vibal Books on Shopee and Lazada.