This page lists the bulk of the more than 150 Philippine rare books and manuscripts from the Southeast Asian Rare Book Collection at the Asian Division of the Library of Congress. While many of the items listed are in Tagalog, others are in Iloko, Hiligaynon, Hanunuo Mangyan, Pampanga, and Spanish. Rare Philippine texts at the Asian Division range from works of literature to dictionaries, catechisms, and pasyones (lengthy narratives in verse relating the suffering, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ) such as Casaysayan nang pasiong mahal ni Jesucristong Pan︢g︣inoon natin : na sucat ipag alab nang puso nang sino man babasa (The story of the Holy Passion of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, which will inflame the heart of anyone who reads it). Almost all the rare Philippine holdings at the Asian Division are in print, with the earliest dating to 1842, a Spanish-Bisaya dictionary. There are other Philippine-related rare books and manuscripts in other parts of the Library, notably the Doctrina Christiana (1593), the oldest extant publication from the Philippines, which is accessible at the Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room and has been digitized and made available online. In terms of non-printed material, the standout item at the Asian Division, is the Mangyan bamboo collection from Mindoro, Philippines. To learn more about this collection, which has been digitized, please click on the link to the Mangyan bamboo collection research guide.

This page is broken up into three sections that cover Philippine manuscripts, rare books, and Christian works respectively. The Christian works section is a subset of the rare books section and has the purpose of highlighting publications created for Christian missionary activity in the Philippines. Please note that the lists below do not reflect the complete holdings of Philippine rare books and manuscripts in the Southeast Asian Rare Book Collection at the Asian Division, and are periodically updated as items are catalogued or more information about them becomes available.