How Was the World’s Oldest Metal-Type-Printed Book (The Song of Enlightenment, Korea, 1239) Misidentified for Nearly 50 Years?

Abstract

Six nearly identical versions of an ancient printed book, The Song of Enlightenment with Commentaries by Buddhist Monk Nammyeong Cheon (南明泉和尙頌證道歌), have been found in Korea since the 1920s. All of them were believed to be printed versions from the 13th to 16th centuries that used duplicated woodblocks of a metal-type-printed version from 1239 and its replica. Two of the six versions were designated as Korean treasures in 1984 and 2012. One other version was designated as a treasure of the Metropolitan city of Seoul, Korea in 2021. Since the 1970s, one of two Korean treasures has been identified as a potential movable metal-type-printed book prior to the Jikji printed in Korea in 1377, as recognized by the UNESCO Memory of the World program. The center of heated debates among Korean historians for the last 50 years was over the printing techniques and printing dates (or sequence). Due to the subjective nature of the examination, it was very difficult to reach a consensus. To end this heated debate, all six versions were examined by image comparisons of individual characters, lines of characters, pages and borderlines to identify whether they are the identical versions using the same woodblocks or different versions. Previous reports on the subjects were also reviewed very carefully. Very clear circumstantial and physical evidence showed that the one version designated as a Korean treasure in 2012 is significantly different from the others and was very likely printed using movable metal type in September 1239, as indicated in the imprint. It is the world’s oldest extant book printed using metal type in 1239, 138 years prior to the printing date (1377) of Jikji. The mystery of the misidentification of the metal-printed book, as a woodblock print, has been revealed.