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KOREAN printing from copper movable type, 1434-50.

KOREAN printing from copper movable type, 1434-50. - XUNG JIE (compilor). Xinbian yindian xingli qunshu jujie [or] Sinp'yon umjum songni kunso kuhae [volume 14].

[Seoul, Korea: Royal Government Publications Office, 1434-1450]. 13 double-page folios (330 x 206 mm) complete, printed with 10 columns per half-folio, 18 characters per column, double black fish-tail motifs, single-line borders, block size: 273 x 171 mm. Traditional but recent Korean-style five hole stitched binding, contained within a recent Korean Pawlonia-wood case. Condition: 5 double-page folios split in half horizontally and expertly repaired, expert restoration to all outer and upper corners, some old dampstaining. Provenance: Ishimura So (name appears on the 13th and final pages); Melvin P. McGovern (purchased from rare book dealer Yi Sang-ui in April, 1968, subsequently bequeathed by McGovern to his widow). a remarkable example of 'kabin-ja' or printing from copper movable type during the reign of king sejong (1419-1450) of the yi dynasty. All early movable type books printed in Korea are of the greatest rarity, and this example comes with the addition of an interesting recent provenance: Melvin McGovern was an authority on early Korean printing and the author of several books on the subject, including Korean Movable Type (Los Angleles: Dawsons, 1966). The text is from a collection of the Confucian teachings of the great Chinese philosophers, complied by Xung Jie in the 13th century and as a guide for the literate and the upper classes in the daily conduct of their affairs. The text would have contained altogether 46 chapters, of which the present volume is 14. In 1434, the Publications Office was ordered by the King to cast 200,000 pieces of copper movable type, which was named after the lunar year Kabin. This was the second set of movable type produced during the Sejong period: the first set was cast in 1420, but according to the Yi Dynasty Annals, King Sejong was dissatisfied with its small size and ordered a larger font to be cast. The resulting Kabin-ja set of characters was so clear and exact that it was possible to print more than forty sheets per day. By repute it is the most beautiful font ever produced in Korea, and was honoured as 'the auspicious item of the nation' and 'the treasure of all ages of Korea' (see Zhang Xiumin Zhongguo yinshua shi [Shanghai: 1989] p.769). The style of characters is traditionally attributed to Madame Wei (272-349) but was in fact adopted from early Ming calligraphers. Kabin-Ja was recast four times: 1580, 1668, 1772, and 1777. Dr. Kim Yon-wong, head of the Department of Archaeology at Seoul National University, an authority on early Korean movable type books, has examined the book and has stated that he believes that this copy was printed between 1434 and 1450. He reproduces a page from this copy in his monograph Early Movable Type in Korea (National Museum of Korea, Series A, volume 1, Seoul 1854, plate 2b). The type impression is quite worn and is probably not from the 1434 issue but printed slightly later.