Rediscovered Noli Me Tángere edition highlights unbroken corruption cycle to be sold

A rare first edition of the Noli me Tangere will be auctioned off at the Leon Gallery Magnificent September Auction on Sept. 13.

The resurfacing of a first edition of José Rizal’s Noli Me Tángere draws attention to the Philippines’ long struggle against corruption after the exposure of a billion-peso corruption scandal tied to non-existent and defective flood control projects.

Noli Me Tangere exposes the abuses of friars and colonial officials during the Spanish colonial period.

The novel, known as the most influential book in Philippine history, serves as one of the earliest critiques of systemic injustice.

This specific copy contains Rizal’s handwritten dedication to his fellow ilustrado, Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera.

“Al Distinguido Filipinista D. TH Pardo de Tavera, Su Amigo y Paisano, J. Rizal,” he wrote, signifying its greater historical significance.

Scholar and linguist Pardo de Tavera was part of the intellectual circle that sought reforms during the colonial period. 

Tavera’s sister, Paz, was married to the renowned painter Juan Luna.

The novel inspired Andrés Bonifacio and Filipinos to question the Spanish colonial rule and sparked a revolution that would eventually cost Rizal’s life.

The book remains a rare piece in Philippine literature, with only very few surviving first editions existing today.

An architectural sketch of Rizal’s planned academy in Hong Kong in 1892, an education project cut short by his arrest and exile to Dapitan, will also be part of the auction lineup.