Writer : Tomas Popek Beginning of Czech literature is set around 863 AD, when Old Slavic, the first literary Slavic language, was invented. First texts were usually legends about Saint Wenceslaus (Czech: Svaty Vaclav) who was the main patron saint of the Czech state. One of the most interesting books of Czech medieval age is [...]
1. The Beginning of German Printing History The beginnings of the art of printing can be found in Germany, East Asia, Babylon and Rome. The first and oldest printed books were constructed by using the so called ?lockdruckverfahren? where the single sites needed to be cut into a printing plate and then were deducted. But [...]
Writer: Gi-tae Park, VANK Co-writer: Cheol-hee Lee, Director of Cheongju Early Printing Museum Though the Korean Metal Type was created earlier than Gutenberg‘s, there are someone who think that it is of less significance because it was less influential from a historical point of view. I admit that it can be seen like that but [...]
Bendik Rugaas in Norway International Library took on the Chairman in the 5th Cheongju UNESCO Advisory Committee Meeting held in Cheongju, following the 4th Review Meeting, from 27th to 29th in JUN 2001. We interviewed with Bendik Rugaas and heard about the background and screening process of registering Jikji in the World Registered Legacy. Officer [...]
Former vice president of the United States, Al Gore’s statements about Korean printing In 1995, Brussels, Belgium at the G7 Telecommunication Ministerial Conference : Koreans invented the movable metal type printing for the first time in the world, but unlike in Europe, It failed to develop Korean culture through its invention. In 2005, the Seoul [...]
JIKJI was inscribed on Memory of the World Register, UNESCO with Gutenberg’s 42-line Bible on the same day. By this, this book is not only Korean’s heritage but the world’s heritage. Eventually, the world recognized the value of this book. In this chapter, we tell you the influence to civilization of this book and the [...]
The first French ambassador to Korea, Collin de Plancy collected it and brought to France when he returned to his mother country. After his death, his collection was auctioned. A curio collector, Henri Vever bought and kept it. By Henri’s will, Jikji was donated to the National Library of France. The Korean historian, Dr. Byeong-seon, [...]
After Dr. Byeon-seon, Park found Jikji, she researched on it and found various proofs that this book was printed with movable metal type. First, a postscript of the last page of Jikji prove it. It says ju-ja meaning metal type. Second, upside down printed letter prove it. Its original shape is this . If Jikji [...]