“Que ignores mi idioma no me espanto”: el soneto en español en Bian zhengjiao zhenchuan shilu 辯正教真傳實錄 o Apología de laVerdadera Religión (1593) de Fray Juan Cobo 高母羡

In Shih-Lu, Testimony of the True Religion實錄 Shih-lu (Manila, 1593) by the Dominican Fray Juan Cobo (c. 1546–1592), there is a handwritten sonnet added after the book’s publication, which has not been studied in the context of the Sino-Spanish books published in the Philippines. In the only extant copy, the beginnings and endings of the book are confused; much as in the sonnet the beginnings and endings are an unsolvable oxymoron for the reader who does not have a good Chinese teacher. This copy of the book contains several of these misun-derstandings because, for centuries, the owners and users of the book where unable to read it. The autographed and anonymous sonnet accurately reflects this situation.