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Establishment of Korea's Metal Movable Type Printing System (1403)

Type Event Region Asia Time 1403

In 1403, Korea's King Taejong established the Type Foundry (later renamed the Type Bureau), systematically casting metal movable type for printing of…

Timeline

  1. 1403Hanseong · Korean PeninsulaIn 1403 (the guiwei year of the Korean calendar), King Taejong ordered the establishment of a Type Foundry within the palace, dedicated to casting bronze movable type to replace wooden movable type, which wore out under repeated printing, marking the formal establishment of a state-level metal movable type system.
  2. 1403Hanseong Type Foundry · Korean PeninsulaThe Type Foundry completed casting the first batch of metal movable type (later known as the "Gyuemi type") and test-printed Confucian classics and legal texts, demonstrating the superiority of metal movable type over wooden type in clarity and durability.
  3. 1403–1410Korean Peninsula · Korean PeninsulaThe 1403 system was an institutional continuation and expansion of metal movable type experiments from the Goryeo period (such as the 1234 metal type and the 1377 Jikji). Korea subsequently recast new type several times (such as the Byeongjin type and the Gabyeong type), forming a continuous metal movable type publishing system.

Sources