The World's Oldest Metal Movable Type Book 'Jikji' Revealed After Half a Century

French National Library April Exhibition Open to Public
World Documentary Heritage... 78 Years Earlier than Gutenberg Bible

The world's oldest metal movable type printed book, 'Jikji Simche Yojeol (直指心體要節)', will be exhibited to the public for the first time in half a century. The National Library of France announced on the 16th that it will be displayed at the exhibition "Printing! Gutenberg's Europe," held from April 12 to July 16. The website introducing the exhibition emphasized that it is "the oldest work printed with metal movable type in the world."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The exact title is 'Baegun Hwasang Chorok Buljo Jikji Simche Yojeol (白雲和尙抄錄佛祖直指心體要節)'. According to the Cultural Heritage Administration's National Cultural Heritage Portal, it was published at Heungdeoksa Temple in Cheongju, Chungbuk, during the 3rd year of King U of Goryeo (1377). It is presumed to have been composed of two volumes, upper and lower, but currently, only the lower volume is held by the National Library of France. It is said that Colline de Plancy (1853?1922), a Frenchman who served as the first envoy after the 1886 Korea-France Treaty of Amity and Commerce, collected it in Korea in the late 1880s to early 1890s. It was donated to the National Library of France after passing through the antique collector Henri Vever (1854?1943), and was registered as a UNESCO Memory of the World in 2001.

According to the Cheongju Early Printing Museum, Jikji Simche Yojeol was first publicly exhibited at the Korean Pavilion of the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. The excellence of Korean printing technology gained attention at the 1972 exhibition commemorating the "Year of the World Book." Dr. Park Byeong-seon (1923?2011), who worked at the National Library of France, proved and publicized to the world that it predates the Gutenberg Bible, published in 1455, by 78 years.

The 13th woodblock of the completed Jikji Simche Yojeol woodblocks.

Since the 1973 "Treasures of the Orient" exhibition at the National Library of France, Jikji Simche Yojeol has not been taken out of storage. Various museums have attempted to borrow it for exhibitions, but these efforts failed. For the exhibition held after half a century, the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation under the Cultural Heritage Administration is cooperating in various ways with the National Library of France. They are interviewing related personnel and coordinating specific details. The foundation previously supported the French translation of Jikji Simche Yojeol in Classical Chinese through a public contest. The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, which undertook the project, held a promotional event locally last year to commemorate the publication of the translated edition.