Wenceslao "Wenchesco" Emilio Retana y Gamboa (September 28, 1862 – January 21, 1924), also known as W.E. Retana or Wenceslao E. Retana, was a 19th-century Spanish polymath. He was a civil servant, colonial administrator, writer, biographer, political commentator, publisher, bibliophile, bibliographer, Filipiniana collector, Spanish filipinologist, and Philippine scholar. Retana was a "onetime adversary" of Philippine national hero

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is considered the national he ...

who later became an "admirer" who wrote the first biographical account of the life of Rizal entitled ''

Vida y Escritos del Dr. José Rizal ''Vida y Escritos del Dr. José Rizal'', translated as "Life and Writings of Dr. José Rizal”, is a biography of Rizal written by Wenceslao Emilio Retana y Gamboa, a 19th-century Spanish civil servant, colonial administrator, writer, publisher ...

'' or "Life and Writings of Dr. José Rizal".Roces, Alejandro R
Rizal's Death Anniversary
Roses & Thorns, Opinion, The Philippine Star, December 29, 2009, philstar.comYoder, Robert L

from footnotes of Chapter 18: Rizal the Man, joserizal.info Rosa M. Vallejo described Retana as the "foremost" non-Filipino filipinologist.Vallejo, Rosa M
(...) "Wenceslao Emilio Retana y Gamboa, foremost foreign Filipinologist" (...)
Bibliographical Works, Philippine Bibliographies, ncca.gov.ph

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at joserizal.info Spanish civil servants Spanish scholars Bibliophiles Spanish biographers Spanish male writers Male biographers Spanish political writers Spanish publishers (people) 19th-century Spanish writers 1862 births 1924 deaths 19th-century male writers {{Publish-bio-stub