World Travel Memories. Being the First Series of Illustrated Travel Stories To Be Published As Such in a Single Volume By Any Filipino.
Washington, DC: Claude T. Clements Press, [1932]. [14],362pp. Profusely illustrated. Publisher's tan cloth with titles stamped in brown on spine and front board. In original, unclipped pictorial dust jacket. Minor edge wear, light insect damage to boards. Dust jacket either trimmed a bit short or originally produced a half-inch shorter than boards. Minor dust-soiling to jacket, with minor insect damage to rear flap. Internally clean. Overall very good. Item #12800
The rare autobiographical travel narrative by one of the most important Filipino-American political leaders in history, especially notable for retaining the original pictorial dust jacket. Hilario Camino Moncado established the Filipino Federation of America in 1925 in Los Angeles, California. It was also known at various times as the Filipino World Federation and the Filipino Crusaders World Army. As one of the fraternal organizations appealing to the small but growing Filipino immigrant community, the FFA distinguished itself from competitors by accentuating "clean living" and rules of moral conduct. Moncado earned a law degree and also edited and published Filipino Nation. Through his work, Moncado sought to portray the immigrant community as responsible and healthy, in contrast to the then-prevalent depictions of them as uneducated gamblers. Much less publicly, the FFA developed a set of religious teachings that held Moncado to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ by way of José Rizal, the Filipino patriot executed in the waning days of Spanish rule. Moncado's birthday was changed to make him appear to have been born after Rizal's death, so that his identity as Rizal's reincarnation would be more plausible.
In the present travel memoir, Moncado focuses on political and social issues encountered on a trip around the world, conveying an impression of worldliness which burnished his reputation within the Filipino-American community. He visits England, Holland, Germany, France, Italy, Egypt, India, China, Japan, and "Home, Sweet Home (Philippines)." A sampling of chapters focus on London, his visit to Oxford University, the refusal of Germany to pay reparations from the First World War (mentioning the German people's and particularly Hitler's stance against paying them any further), his visit to the League of Nations, "Mussolini - Benevolent Despot or Tyrant?," Gandhi and "India's Revolution," China ("The Awakening Giant"), "Americanized Japan," and the betrayal of the Filipino independence movement by the American Congress.
OCLC records just eight institutional copies, including one in the Philippines, one in Singapore, and six in the United States, at NYPL, UC-Davis, the University of Hawaii, Michigan, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Price: $1,250