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Korean Metal Movable Type Printing

Type Object Region Korean Peninsula Time 1230–1400

A printing system using cast metal type in bronze and other metals; Goryeo created metal movable type in the mid-13th century, about two centuries be…

Timeline

  1. 1234–1250Kaesong, Goryeo · Korean PeninsulaUnder pressure from Mongol invasions and the loss of texts, Goryeo cast bronze movable type around 1234 to print the Tripitaka Koreana, one of the world's earliest clearly dated examples of metal movable type printing.
  2. 1300–1350Haeinsa · South Gyeongsang ProvinceIn the 14th century, Goryeo temples and government offices both used metal movable type to supplement-print Buddhist and Confucian texts; casting craft continued to improve in glyph standardization and frame fixing.
  3. 1377Heungdeoksa · North Chungcheong ProvinceIn 1377 the Jikji was printed with metal movable type; a copy survives in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, making it key material evidence in the history of metal movable type printing, about seventy years before the Gutenberg Bible.
  4. 1391–1400Hanseong (Seoul) · South KoreaAt the dynastic transition, metal movable type passed from Goryeo temple traditions into the new dynasty's official printing institutions, laying the technical and artisan foundation for the large-scale type casting and book printing at the Jiphyeonjeon in the 15th century.

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